Introduction
Only about 3,400 square miles in totality, the island of Nowhere is a place lost in time and space. Located in an endless crystal clear ocean, it is constructed from pieces of terrain that look as if they have been torn from other locales and haphazardly smashed together. It is a place where a lush jungle is abruptly cut off by a ruined block of brownstone houses, and where an ancient black iron fortress rises from a vibrant coral reef.
Nowhere's approximately 4,100 residents are a motley crew of individuals from wildly different realities that have been brought to the island through an unknown means. Some simply went to sleep one night and woke up on the jungle floor, while others on the verge of death found themselves being resuscitated in
New Harbor's clinic, others still glanced down while walking, only looking up when they smashed head-first into a boulder that definitely wasn't there a second ago. Generally, people arrive to Nowhere alone with nothing but the clothes on their backs, though some small groups have appeared together, be they family, friends, or coworkers. Regardless of how they arrived however, most people eventually come to the same conclusion: There is no way to permanently leave the island.
In this campaign, you will play as a citizen of the town of New Harbor and a member of an organization called
The Pathfinders. The Pathfinders are responsible for repairing the
Tears in reality that appear around Nowhere, and frequently find themselves travelling through the these rifts to visit distorted realities and fix whatever is causing the distortions.
In this article, we'll go over whats expected of players, character creation, and how we'll be handling backstories. For more information about the setting, start with
The Guide for New Castaways, and for information on GMing a session, see
The GM's Guide to Nowhere.
What's Expected of Players
While we are all here to have a good time and don't have too many rules, it is important that the ones we do have be followed. We generally won't take any punitive action outside of truly egregious circumstances, but try to operate on a policy of mutual respect and understanding. The following is expected of players:
- Be Respectful: Respect all players names and pronouns, as well as all characters' names and pronouns.
- Say 'Yes' to the Adventure: As GMs, we only have so much time to prepare for sessions. While we do our best not to heavily railroad players, understand that there's only so much we can prepare for, and some people, especially newer GMs, may not be comfortable with completely ad-libbing the majority of their sessions. By all means find unique solutions to the problems the GM has presented for you, but try not to ignore or avoid the entire premise of the session.
- Don't be a Rules Lawyer: We run a fairly loose ship rules wise, so don't try to argue semantics with the GM or other players about things that don't effect the session very much. That said, we will usually defer to you when your character's abilities are in question, so try to understand what you're capable of.
- Try Not to Play a Genuinely Unpleasant Character: While we understand the appeal of playing a character who is a bit meaner or more assertive than you are in real life, try to remember that the other people in the session still have to deal with that energy. Most of the time, being around an overly obnoxious or unpleasant character is just as bad as being around an obnoxious or unpleasant person.
- Give Everyone a Chance to Speak: If you feel you've had the spotlight for a while, try to draw in players who haven't said anything for a bit. Ask them what their character thinks about the situation or what they want to do. We want to make sure everyone has fun, so its important to make sure everyone is engaged.
- Be Prepared in Combat: On the subject of engagement, it is understandable that in large combats with many participants some peoples' minds might begin to wander. While this is okay to some degree, we ask that you at the very least be prepared for your turn when it comes up in combat to keep things flowing smoothly. To this end, plan your action before your turn and have the rules for the spell you'd like to cast in front of you or know the target you're going to attack. Its completely okay to ask questions like 'How many enemies are left' or 'Who's closest to me', but asking the GM to recap the entire previous round and outline everyone's positions is a bit too much.
Character Creation
Nowhere was designed from the ground up to be an incredibly versatile setting and can accommodate characters of all kinds. Anything from spacefaring octopus aliens to ancient elvish death priests to run of the mill businesspeople can be found on Nowhere, all coexisting peacefully within the town of
New Harbor. If you have a weird idea for a character that you haven't been able to find the right setting for, try them out here! Alternatively, if you've ever played a few sessions with a character you really liked in a discontinued campaign, this is the place to bring them back. Have no idea what you want to play? Try a random generator like the one at the end of this article or go with a traditional fantasy character. Whatever you decide, we'll make it work.
As a blanket statement for character options, any content from an officially published Wizards of the Coast 5th Edition book is totally fine. Lets face it though, they haven't covered every concievable possibility, especially when it comes to modern and sci-fi settings. If you do find some third party content that really speaks to you send it to one of the organizers so we can make sure its mechanically balanced. While we do run a fairly loose ship we will probably veto or at least attempt to rebalance any content that seems obviously overpowered. We all want to have fun after all, and it's not fun for anyone else, and maybe not even for you, if your character can effortlessly do anything they want.
There are a few things to remember when developing your character however. As with previous settings, we will not be delving into any kind of discrimination, be it racism (real or fantastical), homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc, so try to avoid those subjects when writing your backstories. Additionally, we will not be incorporating any kind of gratuitous graphic violence into this campaign. This group was meant to be a positive, affirming, and generally pleasant one, so please use common sense. If you have questions about whether or not something is appropriate, feel free to message one of the organizers on Discord.
Also keep in mind that the majority of the campaign will be centered on Nowhere, and while you will be visiting alternate realities in most sessions you usually won't stay there for more than a session. Given that we are a drop in/drop out group, we have to eschew focusing on single members of the group to ensure that the experience is broadly enjoyable for everyone who attends. That said, we may be able to base individual sessions around our regulars' characters' backstories and original realities, so if you feel inspired to flesh out your character's backstory and the world that they come from, please do! The more we know about your characters the better.
With all that out of the way, lets start actually building some 1st level 5th Edition characters!
Lineages
(Note: For this campaign we will be using the term 'lineage' as opposed to 'race' when speaking about a character's genetic background.)
While I feel like I will be using variations of this phrase a lot in this article, pretty much anything goes when choosing your character's lineage. Given that Nowhere pulls in individuals from wildly different realities, anything officially published by WOTC is fair game. Consider too if there are any ways in which lineages in your character's home reality differ from the norm. For example, maybe elves in your character's reality have horns and hooves, or goblins have spiny head ridges and turtle shells. The sky's the limit really. Finally, if you'd like to go completely wild with your character's lineage, either send a third party one you think would work to one of the organizers or use the stats from an existing lineage that most closely resembles what you'd like to play.
Classes
Classes are another part of character creation that is completely up to you. If there's a weird subclass you've been wanting to try or you want to explore a class you've never played before, fell free to do it in this campaign. If you want to play a Drakewarden Ranger with a fae dragon companion or a College of Spirits Bard haunted by a mausoleum full of ghosts from their home reality, this is a great place to do it. Your class is also a good place to add some flavor to your character. Lets say for example you want to play a beast master ranger. If your character is from a prehistoric setting they might command a velociraptor, whereas a modern beast master might have a faithful hound backing them up. You could even go so far as to say your character was an interstellar explorer and is accompanied by a friendly alien beast they found on their travels.
Backgrounds
Once again, backgrounds are totally up to you. Generally speaking, backgrounds don't have a ton of mechanical relevance, so anything from an officially published 5E product should be fine. Third party backgrounds are also almost certainly fine, but still run them by the organizers just in case. Also, when selecting your background, you are more than welcome to ignore the suggested Personality Traits, Ideals, etc. While they can be helpful to outline your character's personality if you have no idea what you want to play, you are by no means beholden to them. Lastly, as a service to your GMs, please make a character that wants to be a part of
The Pathfinders or at the very least has a reason to be an adventurer. This may seem like a strange thing to ask, but it is immensely frustrating to play with characters that don't actually want to adventure in this game based around adventuring.
Other Elements
Now we get into all the 'fun' numbers stuff that actually makes the D&D wheels turn. If none of this makes sense, we'll have some time before each session to ensure everyone is good to go. This is just for those who want to handle the mechanical stuff in advance.
Stats
There are two ways you can determine your character's stats. If you want to determine them outside of a session, use the
Standard Point Buy System, just be concious of the total points in the bottom right of the screen and keep your total at or below 27. Alternatively, there will be time before the start of each session where new characters can roll their stats using the standard 4D6 drop lowest system if you prefer that.
Money and Items
Use the standard gear given to your character based on their class and background, ignoring any gold. New Harbor is a socialist society, so everyone is given the things they need to do their jobs as well as comfortable lodgings and three square meals a day. If there is additional adventuring gear or other luxuries you'd like to have that isn't included in the kit provided by your background, you may use the money you have to 'purchase' any desired items. Remember to add the items from the kit included with your background as well, as you never know when you might need rope or torches.
Also, feel free to give yourself a trinket of some kind. If you aren't aware, trinkets are basically random (usually) irrelevant items that your character has found on their travels. They don't have any impact on gameplay, so just find a table appropriate for your character's setting and roll on it, or make one up if you're feeling creative! The trinket table from the Players Handbook can be found
here, as well as a few other tables from other books.
Finally, magic items will work the same way they have in previous campaigns. Thematically appropriate ones will be handed out in most sessions, but if there is something specific you want you can trade the organizers seven coins. We will then work with you to create a custom level appropriate magic item for your character.
Final Considerations (Optional)
There are a few additional things you can consider when creating your character to help flesh out their identity. These are mostly for flavor, so whether or not you delve into them is up to you:
First, ask yourself what your character's goals and motivations are. Are they trying to escape Nowhere, gather political or arcane power, develop some world changing invention, or just protect the people they care about? Having a specific motivation in mind can really help when roleplaying and helps explain why your character would take up the notoriously dangerous adventuring career in the first place.
Second, ask yourself how long your character has been on Nowhere. Perhaps your character has been on the island for a while and is a known figure in New Harbor, or perhaps they just recovered from
Acclimation Sickness and are still getting used to this new world, or perhaps they were born on Nowhere and have never known another home. In their time on the island have they made any friends? Are they part of any organizations? Do they desperately want to get back to their old lives or are they content where they are? Ultimately, what is their relationship with the island? Do they think of it as a pardise, a prison, or somewhere inbetween? Additionally, your character's living situation is up to you, as there generally isn't much variance in quality of life. Some people live in complexes with their large families (found or otherwise) while others live alone on the outskirts of town in small homes, others still live in apartments inside
Pathfinders' Rest so they can be as close to the action as possible or in the upper floors of a public building run by them or a loved one.
Third, ask yourself what your character's life was like in their original reality. You don't need to delve too deeply into this, but some basic information can help anchor their personality. Ask questions like did they have a family? Do they have any hobbies? What did they do for a living? Consider too their relevance in their original reality. Were they a nobody, someone whos disappearance was hardly noticed, or were they an important figure of some kind, perhaps a monarch or a powerful archmage? Because of the unusual nature of magic on Nowhere everyone has to start off at square one, so a former god and a random peasant will start off on the same playing field.
Random Generator
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