The Karthlands Campaign

What’s this all about?

I recently started watching Game of Thrones again from the beginning. ASOIAF is probably my favourite fantasy series of all time – and that is despite all of my love for the Old World. ASOIAF, both in the books and the tv series (and also the graphics novels, and supplementary worldbuilding materials – yeah I’ve read it all) has the perfect blend of historical fiction, low fantasy, low magic, grand narrative, political intrigue, and human story. Above and beyond these things, the world is hedged in by a deep history of the occult and supernatural. And I don’t just mean the dragons and the white walkers – there are the Lovecraftian old ones, the glass candles, and the many mysteries that the series alludes to just out of the direct framing of the story.

I’ve tried several times to write my own wargame (I spent several months and hundreds of dollars writing rules and commissioning artwork for a game that I never ended up releasing) or roleplaying campaigns that utilize parts of this setting, and I’m finally taking the time to do this right. I’m going to write up a history and description of the setting I want to run, pulling very heavily from certain elements of GOT and ASOIAF. What I’ve written below is a primer for the setting, and what I hope is the basis for a larger campaign using a variety of systems to tell the story of this region.

I also want to mention that a lot of my writing and my interest in storytelling comes from the landscape and the natural world around me. Living in northern Canada, and having lived in the sub-arctic, I am spiritually drawn to expanses of tundra, cold plains, mountains, and pine forests. These places hold a strong emotional significance for me that I often have a hard time explaining to others, but I nevertheless hope to capture in my games and stories.

 

Where are we going?

Karth is a holdfast in the northern reach, a land far removed from the bustle of civilization and the games of power and conquest. It is not a place where many travel, unless they seek fishery and forestry. Standing on a high hill along the craggy coast above the northern sea, Karth is one of the last human settlements before the world turns to ice and the forests give way to mountains, and then sheets of endless white. The world here is often grey as the sun rarely shows its face. The colour in all things is dulled, the rich greens of pine and fern, the steel blue of the sea, they feel faint in the cool northern mists.

Of course, the people of Karth are sturdy. The live a life low to the ground and in touch with the earth. Their needs are simple, though not always easily met. They love, they fight, they stand firm against the dark. For here, when the darkness comes, there is no one to call for help. When the shadows come down from the high mountains, or beasts linger in the woods, or when the long dark of the winter months gives cover to creatures of the night, the people of Karth must rely on themselves.

Karth itself is a palisade town up high on a hill, it is well defended with patrols, lookouts, and round the clock guards. Though, few of the dangers of the north would attack a town directly, preferring to prey on villages who work in the woods, or who journey afar for some other purpose.

This campaign will focus on patrols from Karth who are sent to investigate rumours, to protect wagons, or to root out the dens of evil creatures. These patrols are small groups equipped as best as they can, fighting against singular terrors or small bands of enemies. The creatures that roam the woods are often those of northern folklore, like werewolves, goblins, trolls, and darker things like feral vampires, shadows, and the undead. They occasionally face humans as well, where bandits and mountain clans come to raid the Karthlands.

 

How will we play?

I haven’t yet settled on what system I plan to use for telling the story of Karth – I often lean towards Mordheim for these sorts of games, as I’ve found you can easily take the stat lines from 6^th edition Warhammer and the Mordheim rules and bend them into whatever shape you want. My Karth patrols could be stat lines from Empire soldiers or even Kislevites. I have a good enough grasp on Mordheim that I can push through a game relatively quickly and prepare new opposing forces without too much paperwork. However, I’ve also been leaning heavily into even more simplified games in my own game design, and I think I will try using systems like my own ‘Skirmish Game’ to run very quick no-nonsense games.

I will also say – Rangers of Shadowdeep and Frostgrave seem to have a very strong aesthetic link to the kind of game I want to play, so I am also not ruling out using those systems – Silver Bayonet also has excellent monster hunting mechanics. So, I will keep those in mind as well.

What does it feel like?

I don’t know how crucial this is for most people, but when I write a story, I often use music and imagery to foster emotions before I begin writing. People use mood walls in design and art direction, but I’ve also found them to be great when I start a hobby project, or a writing project, or a new game. That being said, I just wanted to share some images and references that really help me bring this project into focus.

 

The image that actually rekindled this project was just a 3 second shot in the second season of GOT, but the cinematography was just beautiful.

 

This was a commissioned piece from the excellent Ruskerdax for a game that I never ended up releasing. It was going to be a monster hunting game in a similar northern setting, but I felt that there was a glut of monster hunting games, and I wasn't totally happy with the rules, so the system got recycled into Many Ages Second Edition. But I always liked this picture.

 

 

 

Of course, Lord of the Rings fits neatly into a lot of the same niches as GOT. Especially Edoras and the Rohirrim.

And of course, landscapes like Scandinavian Fjords

And the Haidi Gwaii

That's a lot for a first post on the subject - but it's percolating, and the next things to do are to write some short 'stories' to give the world some direction and momentum, and then to think about some mechanical systems for linking things together. Eventually I would like to think about a map, but I think I need to put a bit more together before we reach that point.

See you in the next one!