Drakkenheim Themes
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Summary

You will work together with a party of adventures venturing forth into the cursed city seeking to accomplish a Personal Quest, ranging from uncovering terrible arcane secrets, to recovering powerful artifacts, to taking control of one of the Factions that squabble for control of the ruined city. During your adventures, you will combat the contaminating power of The Haze that blankets the ruins and breeds terrible Contaminated Monsters. You will also interact with the five Factions that vie for control of the city, forging alliances to achieve your goals and vanquishing those who stand in your way. And, if you survive, you will uncover the mysteries of the Crater and decide the Fate of Drakkenheim.

Themes

  • DARK FANTASY and COSMIC HORROR. Face the eldritch horrors of the Haze and Contamination in the shattered ruins of a gothic city

  • EXPLORATION. Characters embark on dangerous expeditions into monster-filled ruins, haunted streets, decrepit gardens, shattered mage towers, baroque cathedrals, and ancient castles to plunder treasure and solve mysteries.

  • INTERACTION. Five rival factions clash over the ruins of Drakkenheim. A tangled web of secrets, subterfuge, and sabotage awaits when the factions’ opposing objectives and your characters’ personal goals come into conflict!

  • COMBAT. Beyond fierce warriors dispatched by the factions, all manner of otherworldly horrors inhabit Drakkenheim. Characters battle undead husks, predatory beasts, mutated monstrosities, and terrifying abominations produced by the mysterious meteor

  • PLAYER-DRIVEN. Your PCs are the heart of the story. Their choices, conflicts, and personal goals could decide the fate of Drakkenheim, if they survive!

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Five Facts

  • A Deadly, Ruined City: Drakkenheim, the former capital of Westemar, is a ruined city blanketed in contaminating Haze. Danger lurks around every corner. Characters should be well-rested and prepared before they head into the ruins

  • Squabling Factions: With its capital in ruins, the kingdom of Westemar lies in tatters, shattered by fiften years of civil war. Five factions vie for control of the corpse of the once great kingdom. Players will need to forge alliances with factions that align with their values and goals and crush those that stand in their way

  • High-Magic City in a Low-Magic World. High-level NPCs and spellcasters are exceptionally rare in the wider world. But, Drakkenheim attracts a wide cast of characters from across the world. Your PCs will rise to prominence and have a profound impact on shaping the future of Drakkenheim and Westemar

  • The Gods are Silent and Distant. They don’t manifest physically nor speak with worshippers nor interfere with earthly matters. Planar cosmology is mysterious and unknowable. Divine spellcasting powers aren’t granted by gods but are driven by faith, devotion, meditation, and resolve

  • Magic Flows Through Blood. Arcane magic of socerers and wizards is borne in the blood, and harnessed via practice and study. The laws of the land bar arcane spellcasters from holding noble titles

Content Warning

Drakkenheim portrays a dark fantasy world. References to the following are common in this adventure:

  • Violence, murder, blood, gore, cannibalism, and body horror.

  • Degenerative mutations that cause physical disfigurement and madness/insanity.

  • Rats, spiders, insects, demons, undead, ghosts, and other monsters.

  • Natural disasters, large-scale loss of life, civil war, displaced persons, and refugees.

  • Moral ambiguity, social/political manipulation, religious zealotry and military nationalism.

The campaign does not contain explicit sexuality, sexual assault, racial prejudice, systemic racism, homophobia, or transphobia. Any inferences to such are wholly unintentional.