Beyond the Horizon
http://i.imgur.com/jqkkOjC.jpg?1
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
—“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot
A Whole New World
As the year’s Chuunin exams concluded, news ricocheted throughout the Shinobi World about a mysterious corpse that had washed up on the shore of the Land of Water. Of course, news of a drowning victim would hardly prick up the ears of surrounding nations, but what made this body so intriguing was its complete foreignness.
From the blistered and greenish black remains, medical nins were still able to regenerate the corpse enough to analyze tattoo patterned across the skin. Art historians have concluded that the tattoos share no cultural antecedent in the known world. Likewise, linguists have noted that some tattoos may be of a language yet undiscovered.
Rumors have it that the Leaf-nin managed to resurrect the body long enough to learn about a distant land on the other side of the world.
Some Things Never Change…
Even with the Third Shinobi World War a decade behind everyone, deep-seated rivalries spurred the different nations into plotting ways of tracing the route of the foreign corpse back to its homeland. Leaked reports from the Land of Fire seem to indicate the body was of a lone survivor of a fleet of people escaping from some war-torn home. A home rumored rich with natural resources and unfamiliar with the idea of chakra. The promise of an exploitable new world with no ninja to defend it has further solidified everyone’s intention of crossing the Eastern Ocean.
However, further investigations into the washed-up corpse suggest that an Eastern voyage would be too costly for any one nation to make. Experts estimate the entire trip might take a year or longer with current technology. Any large-scale fleet might divert too much resources, opening a nation up to possible incursions from other lands.
A compromise made at the Land of Iron meant the Five Great Shinobi Countries and other minor countries would pool their resources and manpower together to set sail.
The Ship
Sponsored by the vast gold reserves from the Land of Rivers, the gigantic Shinobi vessel, christened the World-Seeker, was designed by the mad shipwright, Pettu. Mixing pragmatics with art, the World-Seeker features elaborate mazes that allow each country (both major and minor) communal areas and private, hidden spaces.
It was Pettu’s intention to make the ship a microcosm of the Shinobi world where some sections of the ship could serve as miniature Hidden Villages to house competing nations’ ninja forces and ambassadors.
Besides being a nest for political intrigue and back-stabbing, the ship has become famous for also utilizing ninjutsu to move it. Almost every elemental specialist can contribute to the maintenance and running of the World-Seeker.
The Factions…
Every Great Shinobi Country is accounted for on the World-Seeker. Each has brought along a single three-person or four-person squad of ninja to serve as protectors to their respective ambassadors. It’s no secret, however, that each has also snuck on an unknown number of ninja to further their individual plots.
The minor countries have also sent their own representatives with a medley of ninjas from various Hidden Villages from some of the oldest like Hoshigakure to the youngest such as Soragakure. Due to the typically small size of their host government and hidden villages, each minor country has contributed at most one or two ninja to the voyage. The overall number of ninja from different parts of the Shinobi world serve as a sort of check to the well-organized mechanisms of the greater ones.
…and Their Royalty
The Great Countries sent their own ambassadors to represent their daimyo’s will in the New World. Each ambassador is connected to the royal bloodline, supposedly ensuring their obedience to their country. Besides their own personal vendettas, they are also given directions from their individual daimyo that they keep confidential to everyone else.
You
Whether you’ve been paid, ordered, or you just volunteered, you are one of the ninja that find themselves on the World-Seeker. Regardless of whose allegiance you’ve pledged to, it is your mission to see your people and country make it beyond the horizon.
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Alrighty, so here’s the plan: I’ve been thinking about a big campaign for a while now. The idea is to have the characters explore across the ocean and then arrive in a foreign land. As such, I will focus one campaign (maybe two to three different adventures) on the journey with the other campaign dedicated to the New World.
Why not just go to the New World? To make it
feel foreign, I want to understand the different ideas and values that your characters develop and then create something alien to it. Plus, I may or may not be reading Hunter X Hunter again.
As for making your characters: Your ninja can be from anywhere. There’s no limit, but do realize that you may have competing goals while on the ship. How you as individuals come together is part of the game.
The Big Six
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1. System: Naruto d20 (make sure you have the most updated file by downloading it from
here). For character sheets, simply create one using
Myth Weavers. They have a dedicated sheet made for Nd20
2. Player Count: I’m looking for four players. I found in the past, having more usually results in games that slow down and die. The less, the better I find. HOWEVER, if anyone wants to co-GM, we can have more players join. While I can’t manage more than four, I find having more players results in a group that can last a long time.
3. Style of Play: Story first. I love characters that we all care about and want to see through to the end. The mechanics can be used/made/customized/broken in order to make a better a story, so do expect a lot of crunch underneath the fluff.
As for genres…Beyond the Horizon will start of seafaring with political intrigue built in. I foresee this campaign being mainly the above with the succeeding campaigns taking different shapes depending on what the PCs accomplish.
4. Allowed Content: Nothing is outright banned, but anything homebrewed or selected from the supplements should be run past me first.
I’ve probably played every mechanic by now in Nd20, so go wild. If anything seems broken, we will fix it together.
5. Character Creation:
*Backstory: A BACKSTORY IS A MUST. I will be making my decisions based mainly on backstory, so make sure you give it enough thought.
For me, a backstory is more than just explaining how a character arrived at their mechanics. It should highlight your character’s
desires,
flaws, and
relationships. Provide me hooks for your characters and maybe even your expectations for how they will develop. If you want help brainstorming, just PM/IM/whatever me.
Note: Just because I help you develop a character does not mean it will get accepted. I accept groups of characters I feel will work well together or create interesting tension/relationships with one another.
*Experience: Characters will start at ECL 12. Remember, characters with Advanced Bloodlines will typically have dead levels taken up by their bloodlines.
*Wealth: Wealth Bonus starts at 20 + Occupation Bonus + Feats
*Ability Scores: You’re some of your villages’/countries’ best ninja. To reflect this, all characters will be made using 40-point buy.
*Hitpoints/Health: Save yourself the trouble and average it.
*Alignment: Alignment doesn’t really matter, but be aware that choosing an obviously evil ninja will probably make you incompatible with the group of PCs.
6. House Rules:
*Fractional BAB.
*Shinobi Archetypes. See this
link.
*Hostage Maneuver Variant (pages 34-35).
*Reflex Saves and Movement Penalties Variant (page 35).
*Free Bonus Feats: Genin and Chuunin. Jounin must be taken as a regular feat to denote the specific trials and specialization required.
*Characters gain a number of masteries equal to their Character Level.
*There is a limit to the amount of techniques you can learn per rank. Any character may have up to 2 techniques of the highest rank available to the character, 3 of the second highest, 4 of the third highest, 5 of the fourth highest, and any number of those below. Example: Toshio is level 13 and can have 2 techniques of rank 13, 3 of rank 12, 4 of rank 11, 5 of rank 10, and any number of those of rank 9 and below. This helps characters have a balanced repertoire to select from, but this rule can be flexible given a decent explanation of how a different ratio of techniques reflects your character.
*As for homebrew...I'm pretty lenient provided enough coaxing. I'm also open to most of the homebrew on this
thread, but run stuff past me because there are some crazy-stupid broken techniques/bloodlines in that thread.
DEADLINE: Submit Characters by
Sunday, August 6th
Contact Me:
Discord: Unborne#2421
Skype: the.unborne
WeChat: WCFanatic
...or PM me in the Playground
FAQ
To be filled...