Game Report - Dragonstone session 5

Our game of Skyscrapers & Sorcery continued last weekend.

After overcoming hundreds of toxic spiders, the party rested up for a bit before exploring the rest of the abandoned mansion. Finding only litter, rubbish and the occasional alchemical bauble, the party fought some stirges in the attic but otherwise completed their reconnaissance of the house undisturbed. Musing about the legal possibility of squatting in the mansion, the players left and with their loot headed back to New Aurora City.

Selling the smuggled wares to a backstreet contact of Fredd and tying up Vroom-Vroom's loose ends at Aurumdor Express delivery service, the party handed the mysterious gold ring to Mr. Jones and completed the adventure. I asked all the players what their characters would be up to in the next couple of weeks and we'll resume their adventure in two weeks real time.

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Since this is a short session recap, this is a good time to reflect on the game so far. I started the campaign at a somewhat classical dungeon trope (a "haunted" house) in order to ease the players into the strangeness of the setting. Skyscrapers & Sorcery / Dragonstone is still D&D, but it has modern trappings like lightning cars, crystals of recording that function as cd players and leather jackets of charisma.

The players liked the first few sessions. Their characters straddle the in-game line between classic D&D tropes and a more modern setting. I've enjoyed coming up with ways magic can be used for setting details inspired by modern life (such as the 1Up healing soda). All in all, I guess the campaign and setting are off to a promising start.

Vehicles of Dragonstone

Eredain, the world of Skyscrapers & Sorcery, is a world in which cheap access to a magical resource called dragonstone has allowed magical science to progress to a level which is inspired by 20th century technology. It is Eberron set 100 years later, where the elemental binding used in lightning rail and elemental skyships has been improved to bind elementals to personal cars and bikes. Two examples and game rules for them are provided below:

Lightning Bike

Large vehicle (500 lb)Creature Capacity 1 Medium creature
Cargo Capacity 100 lb

Armor Class 23 (19 while motionless)

Hit points 30 (damage threshold 5, mishap threshold 10)

Speed 120 ft.

Str          Dex        Con       Int          Wis        Cha

14 (-2)    18 (+4)   12 (+1)   0            0            0

Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconscious

Jump. If the Lightning Bike moves at least 30 feet in a straight line, it can clear a distance of up to 60 feet when jumping over a chasm, ravine, or other gap. Each foot it clears on the jump costs a foot of movement.

Prone Deficiency. If the Lightning Bike falls prone, it can’t right itself and is incapacitated until pulled upright.

Stunt. On its turn, the driver of the Lightning Bike can expend 10 feet of movement to perform one free vehicle stunt, such as a wheelie or a burnout. Before the stunt can be performed, the Lightning Bike must move at least 10 feet in a straight line. If the driver succeeds on a DC 10 Dexterity check using the bike’s Dexterity, the stunt is successful. Otherwise, the driver is unable to perform the stunt and can’t attempt another stunt until the start of its next turn. If the check fails by 5 or more, the Lightning Bike and all creatures riding it immediately fall prone as the bike wipes out and comes to a dead stop.

Action Stations

Driver’s Seat (Requires 1 Crew). Drive and steer the Lightning Bike.

Reactions

Juke. If the Lightning Bike is able to move, the driver can use its reaction to grant the Lightning Bike advantage on a Dexterity saving throw.

Lightning Car

Huge vehicle (3,000 lb.)
Fuel Capacity 400 miles
Creature Capacity 4 Medium creatures
Cargo Capacity 500 lb.

Armor Class 21 (19 while motionless)
Hit points 60 (damage threshold 10, mishap threshold 20)
Speed 100 ft.

Str          Dex        Con       Int          Wis        Cha

16 (+3)   14 (+2)   14 (+2)   0            0            0

Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned, unconscious

Crushing Wheels. The Lightning Car can move through the space of any Medium or smaller creature. When it does, the creature must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 11 (2d10) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. If the creature was already prone, it takes an extra 11 (2d10) bludgeoning damage. This trait can’t be used against a particular creature more than once each turn.

Prone Deficiency. If the Lightning Car rolls over and falls prone, it can’t right itself and is incapacitated until flipped upright.

Action Stations

Driver’s Seat (Requires 1 Crew and Grants Three-Quarters Cover). Drive and steer the Lightning Car.

Reactions

Juke. If the Lightning Car is able to move, the driver can use its reaction to grant the Lightning Car advantage on a Dexterity saving throw.

Modern Life across Eredain

Until the discovery of dragonstone, magical and scientific progress came at a flailsnail’s pace. It took the Nine Kingdoms centuries to go from leather armor to chain mail. But with the magical and technological revolution that resulted from the refinement and use of dragonstone, a modern way of life has developed.

Spells of levels 0 to 4 are widely available. Every child’s education provides the knowledge of at least two cantrips learned by rote, and a handful of spells that can be worked as rituals. Almost all doors in developed countries are secured by an Arcane Lock and medical services are efficient due to the use of Lesser Restoration. Higher level spells are less widely used, though still employed. The weather in most developed countries, for example, is magically controlled and therefore perfectly predictable.

The use of elemental binding in vehicle construction has revolutionized transportation. Starting with the lightning railway, modern society has developed lightning cars, lightning bikes, elemental earth transports and water elemental ships. Most amazing of all are the skyships, held aloft by bound fire elementals.

The thinning of the veil between realities and the harnessing of the fundamental elements of the world has allowed the construction of factories directly linked to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Creating zones with a tie to the Elemental Plane of Air has allowed architects to build skyscrapers of concrete, steel and glass, hundreds of feet high.

Nations are large and complex, states are politically powerful and have the monopoly on violence. Yet multinational Guilds are starting to accumulate more and more power, as gold becomes the resource most in demand. After all, he who controls the dragonstone supply controls the world, and the Guilds control the dragonstone. As a reaction to all this progress and change, people who are not that into magical industry cling to the past, holding on to religious dogma and traditions of ancestry.

Eredain, the world of dragonstone, is a world of skyscrapers and sorcery. Large masses of humanoids have climbed out of poverty and modern arcane appliances give comforts and economic welfare. It is a place much like Earth, but travelling a different path – a mystic path of sorcery and wonder.

The Myth of the Sun Lord

In these diminished days, our cycles are divided between daylight and darkness. But it was not always so.

In the age before man, the Sun Lord reigned unchallenged in the sky. All was golden in his light and peace and bounty were the fruits of the land.

But the stars were jealous. Being creatures of the same principles of nuclear fusion as the Sun Lord, each of them shone with the same light as the Sun Lord yet all were outshone by His brilliance.

The stars conspired to take the Sun Lord down. Learning the dreams and secrets of all under the Sun Lord’s light, they staged a mighty assault. The Sun Lord battled mightily, but soon half his strength was spent. At dusk, the Sun Lord fell to Eredain, defeated, allowing the stars to shine and gaze maddeningly from above. But each day at dawn, the Sun Lord rises again to combat the stars, bringing light and reason to the lands beneath.

Game Report - Dragonstone session 4

Our Dragonstone campaign continued tonight.

Finding themselves in a hidden laboratory, the party continued their investigations, uncovering a spellbook in a hidden drawer. Their search of the room complete, they backtracked through the house to explore the upper floor. Climbing a creaking set of stairs in the kitchen, the party entered the upper floor. A hallway led south past to doors, behind which were empty and unused rooms full of mold and dust. Skarsnik discovered a bundle of old and illegible documents in a wooden chest, but otherwise the contents of the rooms were worthless. At the end of the hallway they came upon a balcony hanging over the lower floor entrance hall.

Faced with the options of heading downstairs, exploring the east wing or exploring the west wing, the party first headed west, finding two further empty rooms with decaying contents. Deciding to search the east wing before heading into the attic or heading downstairs, Fredd boldly walked eastward. The balcony was weaker in spots than seemed apparent at first, and the heavy warforged promptly fell through the floorboards to the floor of the entry hall downstairs. Having suffered a few bruises, the warforged warlock climbed the stairs back up, only to find himself at the opposite end of a hole in the floor from his friends. Both Skarsnik and Vroom Vroom were easily able to cross the distance with a long jump, and the party headed into the first of three rooms in the upper east wing.

Seeing a reflective glint in the fireplace, Fredd forged ahead, only to be surprised by a mass of spiders swarming out of the fireplace. Vroom Vroom quickly came to assist him, but was soon overwhelmed by the swarm and bitten all over, falling unconscious. Meanwhile, Skarsnik, who had unleashed a thunderwave in order to incapacitate a number of the creatures, was attacked from behind by another swarm of spiders and was brought down as well. After taking out the first swarm with an eldritch blast Fredd moved to aid Skarsnik with a can of 1Up. Soon after, Vroom Vroom miraculously recovered from his wounds (via Vroom Vroom's player rolling a natural 20 on a death saving throw) and the party was able to defeat the second swarm.

Having first fallen down from a balcony (Fredd) and being bitten by scores of spiders (Vroom Vroom and Skarsnik), the party opted to pause and spend a short rest in the room. As the evening was getting late, we ended the session there, picking up in two weeks to explore the rest of the smuggler's house.

Game report - Dragonstone session 3

Our Dragonstone campaign continued last Friday.

Having chased Vroom Vroom’s Earthvan to an abandoned manor on Aurumdor’s western shore, he and his friends Skarsnik and Fredd continue their investigation. They let Sam, a defeated thug, lead the way to a stash of weapons guarded by his fellows. Upon meeting up with his friends, Sam immediately made a run for it. A chaotic fight ensued between the party, Sam, two archers, a bandit and a hobgoblin. Fredd, now confident in his abilities, dominated the fight with his Eldritch Blast. 

The party learned that a few dozen mêlee weapons, each emblazoned with the dual-headed eagle of the United Empire of Aurumdor, were being smuggled by the gang. After recuperating for the night, in the repaired black Earthvan of the smugglers, the party resumed their exploration of the mansion’s cellars.

Proceeding into the room marker with “DANGER”, the party was confronted by six skeletons, soon joined by a skeletal alchemist entering from a secret room. The party, Vroom Vroom and his roundhouse kick out front, managed to defeat the skeletons and gain entry to the hidden laboratory. They looted the gold objects and gained a legendary philosopher’s stone.

With the cellars explored, the trio prepared to explore the rest of the mansion...

Six Things To Know about the world of Dragonstone

1. Magic is a fundamental force of nature: like gravity or magnetism, magic shapes the physics of Eredain. It is a force that is inherent in the world, and can be studied and shaped according to scientific principles. It is this study of magic, enabled by the abundance of dragonstone, that has given rise to Eredain’s modern and advanced societies.

2. Dragonstone is the linchpin of the modern world: 150 years have passed since prospectors have stumbled upon dragonstone in the wilderness of Aurumdor. In those 150 years, the magical mineral has been the impetus of modern advancement. Its magical power and relative accessibility have enabled millions of humanoids to climb out of poverty and is what make advances in modern technology possible. Without dragonstone, the modern way of life would be impossible.

3. Fate shapes Eredain: as common a force of nature as Magic, Fate drives the schemes and struggles of all beings of Eredain. It is a force deeply encoded into existence, unalterable and unimaginable. Metaphysicists often call it the Titanic Ordning, claiming it has something to do with the design of the Titans that shaped the world. Others of a more religious bent point to the gods and their divine plan. Whatever its source, no creature can escape its Fate.

4. Aurumdor rules the world… sort of: The tension of the Silent War has come to an end. No longer is world peace threatened by the mutual magical destruction of two superpowers. The United Empire of Aurumdor and its magic-industrial way of life rules the world as the sole remaining superpower. Yet out of the ruins of the Dragon Lord, new threats emerge from the Humanoid Territories. The Alliance of the Nine Kingdoms seeks to galvanize this moment. And the Dream Lords have opened the ports of the mysterious East. The Overpriest sees the security of his flock, yet new threats warrant his vigilance.

5. If it’s in D&D, it can be found on Eredain: the world of dragonstone is designed to include rules, options, items, spells and even gods found across the published life of Fifth Edition. No race or subclass is off-limits. The world of dragonstone is so diverse and magical that it can always fit in somewhere.

6. Heroes are special: while common guildsmen or soldiers require an arcane focus, the wizards and warlocks that fight monsters and plunge forgotten tombs do not. Heroes are a cut above the fold, possessing an innate quality, or perhaps guided by providence, to innately grasp the fundamentals of combat, skill or magic.