Fantasy Faction:
The Lodge
Quick Sketch:
Many who have fled the wars have found a new haven, an old frontier province: up until a few years ago home to only a very few, the remnants of the original settlers, who now live in isolated villages and hamlets. Well away from Capitol—and even further from the Front—there are many abandoned homesteads here just waiting for the daring, or the desperate, to again till the land and repair the crofts and rebuild long tumbled walls and fences. This frontier borders The Deep Wood, a remnant of the Old Forest (or perhaps just its civilization-facing edge), green and thriving, though in other places dark and dense and overgrown; full of ancient mysteries green and damp and dank and foreboding. There are many tales among the villagers here about what lurks there, and proscriptions about where to build, where to gather fallen branches, and how far one can go into The Deep Wood
This chunk of Old Forest can be anywhere (file the serial numbers off, change the details to suit) but I might add at least one restriction: This wood has been avoided by any Elf or other woodland sentient species that Civilization (as understood by players and their characters) currently knows. There may be Elves in there somewhere (at GM discretion) but they are going to be different™.
With whole new towns springing up, and more refugees coming and settling closer and closer to the woodlands’ edge, there have been Incidents. Rumors of huge beasts (or huge somethings) coming out of the woods on moonless nights or in the dead of winter. Farmers and families disappearing, the homesteads found wrecked again and seemingly abandoned. People who go into the wood for firewood or to hunt game, and just… not coming back.
With the bulk of the armies away on various fronts, and with nothing like a local militia established given how few lived here up until recently, the only ones available to protect the settlers, investigate the mystery, find what riles the Green-Dark powers of the Old Forest, and perhaps save the towns and people of the newly re-established province, is The Lodge
The hunters and rangers who established The Lodge come from all over – some were already woodsmen, some are skilled warriors but just now discovering the difference between fighting on the plains and hunting in the woods, some come seeking answers and to take revenge—if revenge is to be had. A few have come to study The Green, for the sake of knowledge itself, or love of nature, or for personal power. Nearly all are welcome, if they swear to protect The Lodge, and each other, and the people outside the wood.
The Lodge, the building from which the band takes its name, is actually *in* the wood, a morning’s ride or a day’s hike away from the nearest town. It is now a huge undertaking, more keep than lodge (though still under construction), a combination inn and fortress, the four wings surrounding the courtyard, forge, and stable. With a foundation and a bottom story made of stone, the completed wings have two stories and an attic built in timber above. The forest around has been cleared to 75 yards on three of four sides, a little closer perhaps on the back where trees are still being felled (for that defensive perimeter, and construction materials both).
As a GM, you can choose to have your players encounter The Deep Wood, the frontier, and The Lodge at any point in the last 25 years – from its establishment on an actual hunting lodge, a single story building for perhaps 20 to eat and sleep, to the small keep it will eventually become. Your party can be the founders, literally coming to confront the unknown, or as new recruits to an established band, where the Captain and the officers are there to assign patrols and quests, with the support of a blacksmith, bowyer, fletcher, and quartermaster to keep the party supplied and in fighting trim.
The Secret of The Deep Wood is probably going to be the seed of a whole campaign, though one-off adventures might still take place here, if a call goes out for Heroes to hunt and kill a huge beast (and that’s it, XP GP here have a shiny bow thanks byeeee). Or the objective of our party might be to get through the wood, to chunk a bracelet into a chasm or whatever that eventual goal is, and so they stop by The Lodge to pick up an NPC ranger guide and take a long rest.
General Background:
For all party members, our base assumption is they are among the refugees fleeing the war who have now found themselves in this long-forgotten province on the forest’s edge. Some few might have backstories that originate here (growing up on a local farm before becoming an orphan is popular) but for nearly everyone else, any occupation or background should work. The characters might not even have a motive, or objective in coming here. This is very close to the stereotypical, “So you all meet in a tavern…”, but in this case it works. You could even start at the front door to The Lodge, everyone a new recruit, but it might be good to have an introductory adventure at the nearest town first, and a fight/encounter that leads to the party learning about The Lodge, and then making their way there
Our Associates:
[Player types, by class; suggestions for play – or for notable NPCs]
Ranger – The rank and file of The Lodge would be woodsmen, of course: Wardens, scouts, trackers, Strider from LotR and the Hunter class from WoW. You can play the class right out of the core rulebooks or d20/SRD pdf exactly as written. A creative player might have different specializations or a great background story or a new take on the class that will be fun to play or role-play, but a party of Oops All Rangers with no rogues, no pure fighters, and no other spellcasters except maybe a druid is a valid composition here.
Druid – Like rangers, druids are an obvious fit; though being so close to nature might present some internal conflicts, either within the player or within the party. Is our druid here to help us heal a wrongness that perverts the nature of The Deep Wood? Or are they more in tune with the wild gods and old spirits of this place, and find what The Lodge is doing to the wood to be, in itself, just as perverse? A lot of good options here. To keep a little of the mystery from even your most nature-connected character, one option might be to have the druid arrive from woods far away, with a deep connection to nature but little knowledge of whatever-it-is that lurks in The Deep Wood.
Barbarian – Barbarians are another class that can be played as written, with few if any modifications. It might be interesting if the origin and backstory of the Barbarian in the party is “some *other* remnant of the Old Forest, just Up North or Away South” so they can crack jokes about how, sure, that wolf was tough but back home they used to target womprats at least that size in their T16
Bard – ‘City Bard out in the woods’ is a fish-out of water setup with a lot of roleplay options but if we look at myth/literature for call backs we can easily find one good role model for Bards: Alan-a-dale, of Robin Hood/Merry Men stereotypes. (Be cautious or your party may end up as just a pastiche of the Merry Men, with Alan-bard and a Little John barbarian and a Friar Tuck cleric and… or you know what? lean into it. If the players are into it, you can see what a Robin Hood story looks like with Feral Wildgod Wolf Packs and Corrupted Entkind) – At least one Bard in the The Lodge makes sense, though [PC or NPC], as one is no doubt there to collect stories
Cleric – A healing cleric might have been sent by their bishop to tend to The Lodge, perhaps by request of a (distant) nobleman who gives money to both Church and Lodge, or via a divine dropping-a-hint-on-the-bishop mechanism. A cleric of a Nature god/goddess is also a natural fit, as would be a cleric of any fertility god/goddess, answering the prayers of provincial farmers just outside the woods. Even militant orders might find common cause, because there are huge beasts to fight and hey, they like to fight. In building a cleric for a campaign, the player could pick just about any origin, background, and devotion, who then arrives as a refugee (perhaps leading a small group to this haven away from the front) who then finds common cause with either Lodge or party.
Fighter – The only reason to play a fighter as opposed to a ranger (in this particular context) is for flavor reasons—as a better fit for a particular background story—or to be a min-maxing munchkin weapon specialist where the bonuses the fighter gets outweigh all the woodsy nonsense and random spell slots of the ranger class. Here are a few examples:
Fighter – The Tip of the Spear – The Lodge no doubt has a handful of beefy fighters with training in the long two-handed Boar Spear, a massive hunk of weapon that includes a cross-bar three feet from the blade to keep the boar (or warg, or dirething) from charging up the weapon while still impaled. When the patrols come back and report that A Hunt must be called, else this thing is going to eat a farm or bollocks up The Lodge itself, the ones in the front are the elite, the Tip of the Spear
Fighter – Shieldguard – When 85% of your troup composition is plinkers who use bows or dual-wielding swashers who dance and weave and occasionally forget about the friendlies behind them, having a few stout compatriots to get in there and tank the mobs and just generally give us all some cover are kinda necessary while also being underappreciated. Lodge Shieldguards are better trained in tactics than woodcraft and also form the core of the lodge defences, when every day (or even for days at a time) most of The Lodge is out on patrols.
Fighter – The Sniper – “While you were studying tracks and spoor, I studied the Bow. While you learned woodcraft and weather sign, I studied the Bow. While you learned stealth and spells and dueling and defense, I studied the Bow.” You know there’s at least one NPC at the lodge who practices 300 yard shots and blindfolded bulls-eyes and behind-the-back quickshots and splitting one arrow with the next, also in the bulls-eye, and probably also blindfolded. Feel free to make his comeuppance a minor plot point.
Monk – “You must go to The Deep Woods, there you will learn from the jedi mas- I mean the ki master who taught me” – A monk character would likely be a visitor to The Lodge, but perhaps one with reasons to stay. As a GM, I’d work with a player asking to play a monk in this type of campaign to develop a new class kit, “The Way of the Falling Leaf” or “The Green Ki” or “The Force”, with a strong preference for class abilities and bonuses that rely on the elements, some (but not all) of the animal forms, and the idea that the energies that flow through our bodies is the same that flows through all of nature. A monk of this disposition might even be drawn to The Deep Wood, to learn its secrets and to eventually found their own Way and Path and School.
Paladin – The Green Knight – The Nature Goddess had never needed a Paladin before, but the heart of the wood is unbalanced past her remit now, and the deep rot must be rooted out. Our knight was just another of many, fighting in the long war, one who fell in battle: a senseless, random encounter in a woodland near the front, left for dead but found by the Goddess. Long after the fighting had moved on, they awake, rising from a blanket of fallen leaves, to take up now-rusted arms and moss-covered armor, their shield boss entangled with vines that seem to form the branches-trunk-and-roots of a Tree of Life symbol. Our Green Knight emerges from the wood, and spends many weeks in recovery, tended at first by sympathetic farmers and later by clerics at a Temple of Life, who clean the weapons and armor, though both are now stained a green that cannot be removed. When the Knight has recovered, after many nights spent healing and dreaming and communing with the Goddess, a huge Elk with algae-tinged fur and mossy antlers arrives, and the Knight knows: now that their mount is here, it is time to depart. The clerics of Life bestow additional blessings upon them, and the Green Knight rides for the border province, The Lodge, and The Deep Woods
Rogue – Any rogue decent enough with two weapons, plus a little stealth, the ‘surefooted’ feat or ability, and a bent toward deceit could probably fake being a ranger. Especially in a community where every other NPC is an actual ranger and psfh who the hell needs to track anything or whatever five other guys do that. *WHY*, then becomes the question, but I’ll leave that to individual GMs, players, and parties to figure out. Though The Lodge probably has at least two types of rogues who aren’t hiding in their ranks:
Rogue – Trappers – an ability to detect traps and disarm them implies enough familiarity to also set any traps, and an expert along these lines would certainly be welcome; at higher levels these could supplement the defences but at lower levels: it probably means dinner. Or perhaps furs for trade, as The Lodge as both ‘keep’ and band sound kind of expensive to maintain. When drawn into a surprise encounter in the field or forced to defend The Lodge in extremis, the Trappers are still scrappers; a creative GM might give Trappers a “Cast Snare” weapon proficiency with any available rope, analogous to whips or lassos, allowing 1d4-2 damage and either a “distract” or “bind weapon” special action as a called shot, depending on if the shot is aimed at a the face, or the weapon hand.
Rogue – The Closer – Chasing down the prey, cornering it, bringing it to bay, even immobilizing it: for the largest of beasts, even all this might not be enough, and it is only a matter of time before the beast breaks from our temporary constraints and throws us aside. However, if we have someone crazy enough to direct engage the monster (from behind, but still: crazy to get that close) and dispatch it, bully for us and also probably someone good to have on staff. The “Closer” would be more of an assassin rogue build, with backstab bonuses and things like Death Strike at higher level, but context is important. Assassins are good actually, if they are team players and we need someone to close the deal on this encounter
Sorcerer – A wild mage might feel called to The Deep Wood, depending on the nature of their own chaos magic and whatever the GM determines might be behind the Green-Dark of the wood. Creative players and GMs might also lean into the “wild nature” of a Green Sorcerer kit and pull in druid and nature spells that might not otherwise be available to the class. It is also possible for a sorcerer to be “fae” touched (a parallel to other bloodlines) and that is the source of their magic (and also of the constraints that might be placed on it)
Warlock – If there is something deep in the Green-Dark of The Deep Wood it wouldn’t be too far out of line to think that power would reach out, and make a bargain. Or perhaps (at GM discretion) a player-character might be a researcher looking to make that bargain, perhaps with a thought to ‘tame’ the power, or at least to divert it from the innocents of the province beyond and toward some other purpose. Alternate warlock backgrounds might include powers seeking to contain the raw nature of The Deep Wood on either philosophical grounds or just to eliminate some local competition, or to control-subsume-merge with it.
Wizard – As always, if there is some mystery out in the world that can be described as vaguely magical, most assuredly there is some sort of magical researcher who is out there poking at it. That said: similar to many classes above, and in keeping with the general setting, a Wizard from any background might find themselves stuck here who will either find common cause with the provincials and The Lodge — or who will find individual motives that align with the party at least through this campaign. In an extreme case a GM might be forced to breadcrumb a lost mage tower somewhere in the woods, with scrolls and loot, to tempt this character out — but that’s par for the D&D course and nothing special
Other Encounters:
The Lodge is a coherent NPC faction with a strong theme, obvious place & time to encounter them, and a generic enough backstory (huge woodland aside) that they could be found in just about any campaign setting that has a similar mix of war, refugees, and a frontier to flee to. A party of PCs could need the help of The Lodge to get through the Deep Woods, could be helping The Lodge in a particularly hairy hunt, or could find themselves in opposition to The Lodge if the party’s interpretation of how to support and defend nature came into conflict.
In a combat encounter with The Lodge, first you have all the arrows, then the front line of a Shieldguard and Barbarian at minimum, then more arrows, then spell support from at least two casters, and more arrows, The Green Knight is slowly striding toward your position to eff you up, more arrows, at least one Rogue Closer already in the shadows behind you, and more arrows, and finally: they have at least one spell caster in reserve but they didn’t need it because More Arrows.
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