The SydLexia D&D Campaign

Fernin decided to open the floodgates and drown in the excess of the many D&D games he was also DMing by offering to run a game in the chatroom. 8 people were originally chosen to be the Heroes of his Legend, but this number has dwindled down. The group usually meets around Friday at midnight (Eastern time) and usually stops around 2 in the morning unless everyone's cool with playing longer.

Attendance Policy
Players receive 200 XP for showing up, even if a session is cancelled.
In the event a player cannot make a session, their character is dormant for all intents and purposes (barring other players roleplaying around the inactivity). This includes combats (since your character does not exist for the session, enemies can't/don't attack him/her).
If the headcount for players is less than or equal to half the total group of players, the game will be called off.

Allowed Books
Since most of the group is relatively new to D&D, and to cut down on munchkinism, Fernin only allows the following books for his players for anything other than spellcasting (any spell from a 3.5 edition book is allowed, unless it's insanely broken):

• Player's Handbook and Player's Handbook II.
  
• The "Complete XXX" group of books (Adventurer, Arcane, Champion, Divine, Mage, Scoundrel and Warrior. No psionics allowed so no Complete Psionic.)
• Magic Item Compendium (for once you've got the cash to buy stuff).
  

House Rules
1.) Drawing/sheathing weaponry is a free action, however you must be aware of a threat or have some other reasonable excuse to draw your weapon. I.e. you can't draw your longsword during the enemy's surprise round.
2.) When it's relevant, the Improved Critical feat stacks with keen weaponry or weapons affected by the keen edge spell.
3.) Whenever you level up, don't roll for your hit points. You gain the maximum outcome of the die roll. Furthermore, you are fully healed to your new maximum HP total (and any nonlethal damage is reset to 0).

The World

Currently, the game takes place within the Kingdom of Baryus (Map). Below is a description of the various towns.
Tellour - Village settled in the middle of a deep, thick forest. Area around the village has been cleared out, but there are no major paths leading in or out. Self sufficient village, relies on the forest for everything it needs. Trade with other cities is uncommon, but there are certain traders who know the forest well enough to come and go occasionally.
Nior - Town with high outer walls and paranoid citizens. Something horrible happened to the town in the past, left them scared and mistrusting of strangers, outsiders, and very fearful of monsters. Has no trade with other cities whatsoever, citizens tend to be packrats.
Baryus - Castle city, center of government for the region. Duke Hacchus reigns. Typical bustling city, large market, plenty of houses, lots of crime taking place in the dark, back alleys. Nobles live in grandeur while average citizens live in squalor. Knight squads attempt to control crime and keep the peace.
Jovelle - Island city on Lake Lothar. Ferry system from Jovelle to Ceron, Baryus, Albedus, and numerous locations on the lake shore. Trades extensively with other cities, as the town can't support itself. Citizens tend to be craftsmen and mages, as there is no suitable land for farming or otherwise gathering. Fishermen are also very common.
Ceron - Extensive farming village. Much of the food grown here gets traded away to Jovelle, Baryus, and Heline. Many work on the farms in their youth and go on to become adventurers later in life. Citizen militia trained to defend the city, as groups of bandits and monstrous creatures tend to roam the open lands.
Albedus - Port city, large focus on fishing and sailing. Many adventurers leave from here to travel the oceans. Traders travel up and down the river with goods, usually ending up here. Parts of the city are built on the river bank, parts of the city float on the river itself, tethered with ropes and chains. The citizens look badly upon anyone who wears heavy armor in the floating sections.
Heline - Town settled in the Ragnor Mountain range. Stairs and ramps are hewn into the mountainside for traders and travellers, but the citizens prefer to traverse the mountain itself. They pride themselves on strength, and feel that any who fall from the mountain must have been too weak to survive anyway. Many parts of the village are high enough to see snow nearly year round.

Players

Active Players
Not_Sure, player of Suntoer, the quiet, yet ferocious falchion-wielding half-orc barbarian.
Valdronius, player of Derickt, the human sorcerer with a propensity for dual-wielding. Has a Calico familiar named Sieryn.
SoldierHawk, player of Accipiter Yaara Dulintaure (Piter for short), female half-elf Ranger, and her companion Tornat, a hawk.
Hacker, player of Latebra, human fighter.
BlazingGlory, player of Galahad, half-elf swashbuckler.
LordHuffnPuff, player of Taniel Garthnicks, the half-elf bard/mountebank


Officially Dead Characters
Taran Almasy, played by Lordsathien. The human druid's last appearances entailed wild shaping into an elven female as a prank on Jox Ashwood. Downing three absinthes at Jox's expense, Taran eventually ended the effect to surprise Jox. After that was settled, Taran left the pub for a bit of outside meditation. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as he was swiftly abducted by an agent of the organization working with the "mad mage." Eventually, when the party had made it to the top of the Mage's Tower, they were greeted not only by the mage, but also a teleported-in Taran. For yet-unknown reasons, the boisterous servant of nature had been corrupted into a sadistic, some would say misguidedly misogynistic, vampire. After a prolonged battle, Accipiter plunged her knife of purity into his preternaturally hard flesh, instantly purifying the corpse. Taran regained his senses to a degree and uttered his final words to her before disintegrating into ashes carried by the wind.


Retired Players
AKAFred, player of Fred, human bard. Now follows the group and remains in the tavern of each city, singing tales of the group and drinking the days away.
Crazy_Bastard, player of Jaxon Navid, human rogue.
Dignant, player of Fenuran, a gnome knight with a dire badger for a mount.
docinsano, player of Beauregard Tau, human fighter.
Lottel, player of Falash, gnome rogue and Loe Teon (race and class undisclosed/unremembered).
LowEndLem, player of Terramos Leyarn, human cleric of Pelor.
Neutral-Bob, player of Gato, human ninja.
UsaSatsui, player of Suzume, human shugenja (air affinity).
Lordsathien, worked with Fernin to write his then-current character out of the story instead of being "put on a bus." Plans to return as a fighter/cleric as soon as he can use a computer that can both run MapTools and connect to the internet.
Ghandi, player of Jox Ashwood, halfling rogue.

See Also

Dungeons & Dragons
MapTools, the program used for game sessions ever since GameTable stayed down for numerous consecutive weeks. Fernin's Not Quite Legal Book Links (Requires NWO access)