What every parent should know about the Cyfandil campaign

Cyfandil is pretty close to vanilla d&d. The tweaks are minor. But in this sociopolitical climate, “vanilla d&d” as the greybeards know it is fraught with potential misunderstanding, hurt feelings, and ideas that some folks won’t be ready for. 

Take a look to see what potentially-controversial topics we will cover. 

1. There are three human cultures; rough analogs of White Europeans; rough analogs of North African nomad types; and rough analogs of East Asians. 

They are not meant to be real world peoples. The cultures, names, places are a pastiche. I do this to better resemble the real world (but in miniature.) 

The land we will start in and perhaps spend most of our time in is the Europe of the world. Very few nonwhites. 

However anyone can decide to play any of the human cultural traditions without penalty. 

2. There are elves, dwarves and hobbits. Elves and dwarves are not unheard-of but neither are they common in the realm of men. 

Thematically, adventuring is a particularly human pursuit. Other races join men, but only rarely. Elves don’t like to slum it with people; Hobbits consider adventuring scandalous. 

Therefore I will enforce a strict limit of 40% or less of the main characters being non human. Just how you divide that up is up to the players. 

3. There will be off-screen romance. Nothing acted or role played, but a character might pick up a spouse or paramour.  

If someone wants to opt out of this part of the game, they may do so. The reason I have it at all is twofold: it presents the prospect of having children and starting a dynasty; and marriages can be politically or economically valuable. 

In any case, there are no half-elf, half-dwarf or half-hobbit babies. They are not biologically possible in this world. 

4. Characters, including those played by players, will die. Perhaps frequently and perhaps not, depending on how aggressive the several players are in the game world. 

But these deaths are not a defeat for the players. They are a part of the story. Character death is a learning experience, and it often makes for a good tale in the later telling. 

Consider the Mario Bros. franchise. Mario dies all the time and for many reasons, whether by player mistake or bad luck. But he always comes back and the player can continue playing.

It’s the same concept here, except that the character won’t be like the immortal Mario, but instead a different character every time. 

In some ways this is better, because everyone gets to try out different kinds of characters. 

5. The realm of Aluvia is Christian. Not Christian-analog, but Christian. The good guy clerics are delegates of God, like from the Bible. The bad guy clerics get their powers from the Devil and other related evil beings. 

5a. There are other religious traditions. While it is not a pluralist culture, we will not discriminate if you want a Buddhist or a disciple of Odin. 

5b. I will not be preaching.  At all. I do not run my game as a tool for evangelism, nor conversely one for social commentary. The church is just one power center in a world of many power centers, and there happen to be holy men who go adventuring.  

6. Finally, players will be responsible for playing their own character, but also assisting in the maintenance of the world. 

Time passes. Events happen. The characters and others change the world in many ways. These gallant paper men eventually grow old and retire or die. 

When the several characters are exploring the unknown, then among the characters, someone has to track their limited supplies. Someone has to navigate. Someone has to map. Someone has to manage the treasure they collect. Someone has to chronicle the tales for posterity. 

Therefore, each of the players will take on these administrative roles on behalf of their characters. 

There are two reasons for this: one is to take some of the burden from the referee, who has a lot going on; and two is to reinforce the concept that this is a shared world and shared experience that we are building and maintaining together. 

Cyfandil's One-Page Campaign Document

This will change of course. Here is a screenshot of the document. It's not exactly the way I said it should be but it has all the information I want it to have. And it's a very readable single page. (Trust me. It looks good in hard copy lol.)

I will give this handout to the several players either before Session Zero or at the start of it.

Then we will talk about some of the finer points, such as how to make characters and what classes are available.

The Realm of Cyfandil

Cyfandil is a world of Men. Our little principality is called Lleannedd March. Our town is Cragstone, named for its founder, Thorsten Cragstone, the hero of times past. Demi-Men are rare upon these isles. Besides, there’s enough going on with Man’s tripartite lineage: Aluvian, G’harundim and Sho.

Cyfandil is a fairly standard medieval fantasy setting, something like Northern Europe in 1300, but with the opportunity to travel to different lands. It is low fantasy. The greatest monsters are rare and distant. Even the allied races of Mankind are only seldom seen in any great numbers.

Cyfandil’s primary purpose is the backdrop and sandbox for teaching the folkstyle D&D of yesteryear. Its secondary purpose is to backdrop teaching my particular folkstyle philosophy.

The nominal goal for the players when they start will be to collect enough money and power to conquer a hex, build a castle, and become a lord. Of course, that’s just the opening bid. Players can decide what each of their characters truly wants from life. In fact, we should all voice our dreams and desires about what we want to happen in our campaign story.

To that end, it is a most suitable realm for presenting the challenges of problem-solving, role-playing with reaction rolls, exploration overland and underground, and combat using surprise and morale checks that constitute D&D.

 

What Is New

 

We play face-up, toward each other, and speak in natural language.

The players, not the Referee, will push our story forward.

We will use gold for XP, roughly 80-20, with monsters filling in the difference.

Differentiation comes not from your character sheet, but from you. In folkstyle, class is an element of your character, but “build” is not. In terms of game mechanics, one fighter is about as good as another. Most clerics are almost identical. So, it is down the line (except for wizards and elves, who have more latitude due to spell selection.)

Henchmen and other hirelings are a big part of expanding your character’s power, so hire them and cultivate them. The difference between one fighter and another will largely be in his equipment, his henchmen, but super-especially, the player’s ingenuity.

We will observe strict timekeeping, light, rations, slow healing, etc.

Death is always nearby. Your paper man will die. Because of easy death and regular PC indispositions, be prepared to play three or four different characters at different sessions. “Next man up” as they say.

The seasons and even the years will matter. Characters will age. They will carouse, they will love and befriend, they will war, they will politick (at least personal politick) and of course they will adventure. In time, even the elves retire and leave the field of valor to their children. So will our paper men.

At least 60% of the PCs must be Human.

 

Common Knowledge:

Things Everyone Knows in Lleannedd March

·         Strange noises come from the accursed woods just outside town.

·         The Empire is shattered by civil war.

·         Roads are dangerous! Monsters and bandits prey on unsuspecting travelers. Stick together!

·         Locusts destroyed the crops last year in Glenden Wood.

·         Rithwic was hit by the plague. Some say it was G’harundim merchants who brought it there.

·         Most people say Druids are a myth.

Factions and Patrons

1.      Our ruler is Lord Alberz, First Marquis of Rithwic (L FM 9,) at Castle Rithwic, the seat of Lleannedd March. He has ruled for 35 years. He has a deep, booming voice and has turned several of the castle’s rooms into additional kitchens. He will always accept the help of up and comers, at least until he feels like they are a threat to his power. Lieutenant Kenneth is the captain of the militia and town guard in Cragstone. (N FM 4.) Kenneth is the Lord’s representative here. If you want to work for the Marquis, speak to Kenneth.

2.     Brodus Stoneriver is the master of the docks and minder of the traders. He is an elder of the Dwarven Sea Clans, and he has settled in our town. If you need mercenaries or need mercenary work, speak with him.

3.     An informal guild of curators, crafters, and natural philosophers haunt Cragstone. You can get in touch with them through Brienne, the barman’s daughter, at the Brass Dragon Pub. If you want to gather strange knowledge and artifacts, or get answers to strange questions, she’s the one who can put you on the right path.

4.     Outside of the towns there are roaming bowmen, weird cultists, Orcish men, mad Wizards, and maybe some Druids. Chaotic types might want to seek them out, but then again, they might not.

Lines and Veils

 

There are three distinct races of people, analogous to Nordic White, East Asian and North African.

We will track the months and years. The characters will have “real lives” away from the dungeon (but we don’t have to role-play them if we don’t want to.)

I would prefer to have only traditional boy-girl type romance. Half-humans are not a thing (although the several common races might intermarry if they please.)

Towns are safe. Dungeons, roads and wilderlands are not. A henchman or even a PC can face deadly situations at any time.

Writing a One-Page Campaign Document

The one-page campaign document is a primer on what kind of world you’re running and what the next campaign is going to be like. High Medieval fantasy? Survival Horror? East Asian warlords? All Dwarves (and that one Hobbit?)

The Realms of Cyfandil

It helps players understand what they’re getting into and what characters will work better in the world. It will also give them a chance to feed back to you during your Session Zero.

Send this to the players before Session Zero. Or at least tell them that the several of you will be spending some time with one of these. When Session Zero arrives, read this to the players and then hand out the page.

Make sure that everything fits on one page. People won’t read more than that.

Each one-page campaign document will be different, but here is the template I like to use.

“One Sentence”

One sentence to tie the characters to the world and to each other. This limits options somewhat, but it ensures that the players have a good idea about making characters which fit with each other and with the world. 

For example, the one sentence for my Port setting  is, “Prince Jaroslav lays dying.” This sets the mood with an evocative and strongly cultural name, and with the sense that things are at least in transition, if not in decline.

“What Is New” 

Things that set the campaign world apart from others they have played. For folkstyle d, you would write about the problem-solving nature of the game, the nearness of death, the face-up play style, and the rulings, not rules.

Campaign Truths - “Things Everybody Knows” 

The next section of the document gives the players a few nuggets of common knowledge. These are things that both the players and the characters will know. They are not hints or secrets. They just help define the premise of the world. Do not write more than six of these. Fewer is okay. 

“Factions and Patrons”

give the players some background on the power centers, at least in the immediate area. 

I use seven (!!) factions in my Port setting, but players generally choose among four of them. (Reasons. Unusual settings sometimes require unusual solutions.) In your setting, I recommend at least three and maybe as many as five, but over five, and players’ eyes tend to glaze over. (I’ll use fewer in Cyfandil.)

It’s also quite possible that the players don’t care much for factions and politics at all; or they wish to travel the majestic wilderlands far and wide. Factions and patrons still gives the players two things:

1. a better feel for the construction of the world, so they can better mold their character concept, and

2. a place to get their starting quests. Much better than “you meet in a tavern” or in media res. 

Who knows? They may end up liking factions after all, since they provide powerful allies.

“Lines and Veils:”

Lines are hard lines about what sensitive topics will, and won’t, appear in the campaign. Veils are softer lines - a veiled idea might happen offstage rather than being played out. 

Tell the players which sensitive topics might come up, and which will come up. Ask each player if there is a topic or topics they would like to avoid. This establishes trust and boundaries. Sometimes these lines and veils will cross each other. It’s better to sort out what is out of bounds prior to session one. 

Here’s an example. In my Cyfandil campaign, there will be three distinct races of people, analogous to Nordic White, East Asian and North African. I don’t plan to broach controversial issues of race at all, but there is a real-world shade to the campaign where three different peoples make up Mankind. I also want to have traditional boy-girl romance and very little human-demi human race mixing, if any. 

By the standards of this decade, these are all controversial ideas. There were nonwhites in actual medieval Europe (in small numbers.) I will have a multiracial table including at least one mixed race child. I want my several players to be

able to choose a character that’s like themselves (without limiting them so.) I will explain the romance and mixing expectations as adhering to the genre. Certainly, your world will be much, much different. 

Additionally, ask the several players if there is something they absolutely want to try. And then try to find a way to make that possible. There are some concepts that simply won’t work with some settings, but do your best to make them work somehow. 

One important line to mention straightaway in folkstyle d is that your paper man will die, and that’s okay. You, the player, don’t lose when your character dies - his story ends. You just use another character and carry on playing with your friends. 

After Session Zero you should update the document based on your conversation and send it out or hand it out to everyone again. 

That's a lot!

Yes. Yes it is. That’s a lot for one page. Write small. Use two columns. But make sure it’s one page.

 

In the header, put the name of the campaign and the version number of the document.

In the footer, put your name, email and phone.

 

You can do this. I can do this. In fact, I’m going to do it for my Cyfandil campaign now.