Dune-inspired Campaign Player Handout
Campaign Background
Centuries of prosperity corrupted the Dragon Empire. So when Emperor Elrood IX granted Sir Ravd a single dragon’s egg and *Baron Abulyrd’s* settlement of Sikara, even village children knew: it was a trap. This “reward” for honorable service was an attempt to destroy Sir Ravd and his house for being too popular and too good. Annihilation by giants and orcs and winter, if not assassination. If Sir Ravd’s house survives, it promises to embarrass the venal nobility by its shining example. Sikara also promises great wealth. Mines beneath nearby ruins are the last source of dragongems, necessary for incubating dragons’ eggs and, thus, the linchpin of the alliance between metallic dragons and the Emperor.
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Campaigns in this setting
Thursday group: The heroes are youths in Sir Ravd’s settlement of Sikara.
Sunday group: The heroes began at More on Camp Booming Chasm, an orc smuggling den near Sikara.
Sikara is under the first ‘o’ in ‘Colossus.’ See the full Dragon Empire map.
Sikara is in the Frost Range, in the westward shadow of the Northern Colossus, south of the Crystalknife Glacier, some 500 miles north of the imperial capital, Axis.
Travel time from Axis to Sikara…
- overland: 32 days (if the dwarves allow passage along the Undermarch and the local mountain passes are clear)
- via murkship: 9 days
- for the Emperor’s dragon-riding Knights of the Noonday at flank speed: 7 days (if the weather is fair)
Characters
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For players new to 13th Age
In 13th Age, level 1 characters are already established adventurers. They’re heroes, not just farmers with swords.
See the 13th Age core rulebook and 13 True Ways for more. Or the free 13th Age SRD (linked version) has rules without setting info.
Available Races & Classes
Kin: Human, Dwarf, Dragonic, Dark Elf, High Elf, Wood Elf, Forgeborn, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Orc, Halfing, Holy One, Tiefling, Alleykin, Arcanite, Beastblooded, Spiritborn, Unholy One.
Classes: Barbarian, Bard, Chaos Mage, Cleric, Commander, Demonologist, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Necromancer, Occultist, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard.
One Unique Things & Backgrounds
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For players new to 13th Age
An OUT is what sets your character apart from everyone else. It doesn’t grant powers. It’s what makes you special and what makes your life interesting. Backgrounds replace skill lists. They’re bits of your backstory that each grant bonuses to a variety of different skill checks.
You as a player get to shape the world and the campaign through your character’s OUT and backgrounds. The more detail you add, especially to backgrounds, the more hooks you give the GM to tailor adventures to your character.
Expand on the backstory in this handout. Add something completely new. Create connections with other characters and with the world. The GM will ask you to change details that conflict with non-negotiable elements of the campaign. But don’t worry, talking through and refining your ideas will be a big part of our first session.
You could have a background, “former sailor in the Imperial navy,” but like Wade Rockett, this is what I love:
Former sailor on the Imperial frigate Intrepid*, which was sunk in battle against the* Revenant*, flagship of the Lich King’s Pale Fleet under the command of the lich admiral Vertinor*
Read more: 13 Tricks for Better Backgrounds (& One Unique Things)
Icons
Great Gold Wyrm (Atreides)
The House of Sir Ravd, the Wyrm’s last Knight of the Golden Order, is fighting for survival against the Crusader’s Baron Abulyrd and his shadow-ally, the Emperor.
Orc Lord (Fremen)
Oppressed but fierce, he hoards the secret of dragongems’ true source and his people’s real strength and purposes.
Crusader (Harkonnen)
He fought monsters and became a monster, and his most fervent follower is Baron Abulyrd of Glitterhaegen, who is hellbent on destroying Sir Ravd and the Great Gold Wyrm.
Emperor (Emperor):
Emperor Elrood IX’s military power on land and in air is unmatched, thanks to his fearsome army of Knights of the Dawn and metallic dragon-riding Knights of the Noonday Sun. Baron Abulyrd disgusts him but Sir Ravd is a real threat. So he backs the Baron, if secretly.
Lich King (Tleilaxu)
His followers will bring back anyone…for a price.
Diabolist (Ixian)
She devises the most infernal of machines.
Priestess (Bene Gesserit)
The ubiquitous priestesses of Mother Siona Arrbea Mohmus Chotkoba live to serve so well that no one notices as they finesse history toward their own ends. Hopefully those are benevolent. (There are no male priests, only female priestesses.)
Archmage (Spacing Guild)
Only her wizards can safely slip her barges, called murkships, into and through the Murk. Her monopoly on (relatively) fast, long-range travel and transport earns her wealth, power, and resentment. It also depends on dragongems.
Prince of Shadows (CHOAM)
The black market is THE market, and he controls it. Goods, titles, secrets…but by far, dragongems bring the highest prices.
Elf Queen, High Druid, Dwarf King, The Three (the Landsraad)
These minor icons talk a noble game in support of Sir Ravd, but when push comes to shove, do they really just want wealth and power?
Other Dune connections
Sanganak Gnomes (Mentats)
All Sanganaks are gnomes, not all gnomes are Sanganaks. Sanganaks require regular contact with dragongems to maintain their incredible abilities for weighing possibilities, recalling lore, and seeing to the heart of things. All major noble houses keep a Sanganak in their employ.
Fighter class (Swordmasters of Ginaz)
All fighters trace a lineage of masters back to a dead icon called The Swordmaster.
Knights of the Dawn (Sardukar)
The Emperor’s elite, fearsome land-based army. With the Knights of the Noonday Sun, the source of his power.
Eld Healers (Suk school)
A High Druid faction of unparalleled healers. Major noble houses employ Eld Healers.