The Mayor of Ludsford, Thomas Lud, has applied to Baron Van Hausen for the funds to support a larger patrol and militia. The Baron has agreed, as long as the new patrol routes expand into the forests to the east and west and the mountains to the north. To this aim, the Mayor and the local Lairds have organised a large recruitment campaign.
The idea behind the Shire is to give an area of the Barony a cohesive history, back story and geography. It will hopefully give the characters a better chance to establish a character history if they wish it. It will only apply to one, small area of the Barony and only for this year. We aren't writing the way the Kingdom works, or the Van Hausen Barony, or the Defenders. It is just this situation, for this year, in the Shire.
For this purpose, we have a map of the immediate area, a brief outline of the history for the last hundred years, a more detailed history of the last ten years, descriptions of local NPCs that you can have seen or met and the starting brief.
You do not have to have your character come from the area. You can be a normal character who is sent to the shire, to go on patrol. It will just be a different role-play experience if you choose to.
o Read through this document
o Ask us questions
o Contribute
Then, if you want to, come up with a character concept that will either fit into the campaign area, or comes from outside it. It can include relatives, family history, property, hopes, fears and dreams, basically, anything you think might be interesting, entertaining or even necessary to your concept. Appendix B has a 'twenty questions for your character' - which can help you round out your idea.
So what kind of characters exist in the Shire? Well, anything you can come up with really. There's room for everything and everyone. The social structure goes from local Lairds and landowners, to middle class townsfolk, to simple farmers. If your character isn't native to the Shire, you can have moved there years ago or just recently. As long as they would volunteer for, or be asked to be part of a patrol, they are a valid character.
Even if you cannot see how a particular class or guild would work in the campaign, ask us.
For a full list of characters who have submitted backgrounds: see here.
History is written by everybody. This document contains the OOC timeline and the Official Barony History. Your character is, of course, allowed to believe different things, disagree with other characters and NPCs and go along with the consequences of these beliefs.
One of the major points of 'The Shire' and its history is that there are only a few guidelines of what is definitely there. We are asking everyone to contribute Local Legends and bits of Local History and rumours. These can (and will) be used for plot hooks, ideas and role-play. When sending in your idea, please label it either open (where anyone can develop plot from it) or closed (where your permission will be sought before plot is written.)
Submit a Local Legend to the Campaign Refs, which can be anything from a single sentence rumour to a two thousand word folk tale to a nursery rhyme. It can be based in truth, it could be malicious slander. It could be a simple legend of a great hero and their treasure, it could be a bit of gossip about someone's father.
Information on the folk history of the area and how to submit your own legends, rumours and local history can be found here.
The chat boards are a nice outlet for role-play. This year we are planning two additional chat boards, based in specific locations. One Chat board will be based in the 'Troll's Head' (the IC location of tavern nights), while the other will be based in the Ludsford Garrison. Military missions will be announced and briefed on the Garrison Board, non-military missions will be announced on the Troll's Head Board.
Currently there is one board working until it has been decided where the boards are to be hosted. It can be found at IC Shire board.
Continue onto: Welcome to the Shire