Mercenary Campaign: Session Zero Plan

1. Reinforce the Campaign Concept

You drive the story. Make good backgrounds that give you interesting motivations. If you hear about a place or thing you are interested in exploring you are welcome to pursue it.

The Company is everything. You are all sworn, like your troops, to put the wellbeing of the Company before all other bonds.

You joined the Company to leave your old life behind. You must pick a nickname which you are known by. Consider the following question as you build your character and backstories together: 

• What is your nickname?
• What is your true name? Who are your closest friends and comrades that you might have shared this knowledge with, and why did you share it? 
• Why did you leave your old life? Are you running from something? Were you out of options? Do you have a family somewhere else that you still send your money to? Have you made a new family or found a spouse in the company? 
• Who is an NPC from your past that is significant to you or has impacted your life?
• Are you related by blood to any of the others in the company? 
• What battles or wars have you fought in with your comrades? 
• Who was the previous officer that died so you could take your position? 
• What are your goals in life and as a leader of the company?
• What are your darkest secrets?
• What are your deepest fears?
• What are you interested in discovering, exploring, or doing in the world?
• What is a short term goal that you want to accomplish? (Pending GM approval, accomplishing this will earn you a free feat)

This campaign is designed to be a long term, player driven story. With downtime activities like recruiting troops, or long term contracts to guard a city or settlement years could pass in game. The details and ideas you come up with will help create opportunities and quests. You can always add additional details in coordination with the GM.

2. Design the Mercenary Company

The company existed long before your characters ever joined it. You will have a hand in creating it.

• What is the name of your mercenary company?
• What is your symbol? (You can draw something of your own or find something online for this)
• Which heroic organization type would you like to use to represent your company? (Kingdoms & Warfare, pg. 31-64. You can reskin an organization if you like certain powers or features better and make it a mercenary company that uses elements of the theme of the organization you picked)
• Where was your mercenary company formed? Did it originate on another world? (Your company is at least two thousand years old)
• Why was it formed? Or is this a secret lost to time or buried in the annals?
• What are the names of some recent commanders and officers that preceded you in leading the company?
• Your company will start as a size one domain with a number of veteran units equal to the number of players in our campaign. These units are comprised of approximately fifty troops (exact numbers don’t really matter for warfare because it is abstracted, but if you were to raid a settlement or enemy stronghold the raiding system we would use uses more exact numbers of troops), with stats provided by the GM.

Your company has spent much time in largely human dominated lands in the last few decades and so it is less diverse, although there are some interesting members from earlier days. If you want to recruit troops of different ancestries you must set up in a suitable settlement with sufficient population and recruit for six months, paying lifestyle expenses for yourselves and upkeep costs for lodging your troops during that period. It will be treated as downtime for you to do other activities, or you can go off adventuring on your own for brief periods, along with a cost to recruit, train, and equip new members (it will be an expensive undertaking). You can recruit units faster by engaging in Intrigue against other domains opposed to your goals. However, not every conflict will use the intrigue system.

Additionally, your company currently has a treasury of eight thousand gold pieces. Fifty percent of the money made via your contracts must go to pay the troops (but otherwise you only pay upkeep if you are stationary, lodged in a settlement). The treasury may be used for gear for your officers, but any major expenses (greater than a thousand gold pieces) are traditionally voted on as a group of the senior officers. 

Finally, you must vote on your leaders (captain and lieutenant) and additional characters must choose from the other available titles:

Captain. You have been elected by the senior officers to command. The fate of the company rests on your shoulders. You are sworn to place it before your own interests and give up your life rather than doom the company. You negotiate and must honor your contracts. You gain the following ability:

On Your Feet. When an ally within 30 feet of you that you can see drops to 0 hit points, you can use a bonus action to command them to stand. They regain 1d8 hit points plus your Charisma modifier and use no movement to stand up. If an enemy is within 5 feet of them they may make an attack as a reaction. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and must complete a long rest before using it again. Additionally, any units you command have advantage on command tests during combat.

Lieutenant. You second and support the captain in all things. Your duty is to ensure the survival of the company and lead it should the captain be required to make the ultimate sacrifice. You must also honor the terms of every contract.

Into the Breach. As a bonus action you can command an ally within 30 feet to move up to its speed and make an attack as a reaction. You may do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and must complete a long rest before using it again. Additionally any units you command in battle have advantage on their morale tests against upon being diminished. 

Company Annalist. The long tradition of keepIng the records of your company has come down to you. You gain proficiency in the History and Religion skills. If you already have proficiency in one or both then you gain expertise in the respective skill. Your studies of the lore of the company also grant you advantage on History and Religion Checks that regard the company’s history. The annals are held in a massive chest, to which you hold the only key, carried on an iron chain around your neck. The chest is guarded by the most elite veterans of your company. On your belt you carry the current annals, which is a book connected by a larger iron chain to your belt. It never leaves your person until it is full and joins the larger collection, upon which you begin writing in a new book.

The Current Annals. This book contains your and recent annalist’s writings. The book is a mundane item, but contains great significance for the company. You should give your life before losing it or the other annals. While you maintain the book you may inspire your companions with a story from the company’s past, granting you and each of your companions one use of Inspiration each. Additionally, you can inspire one of the units you command in a warfare battle, granting them one extra attack on their first activation. These abilities can only be used again after you take an extended rest (one week conducting no other downtime activity other than recording recent events and studying the annals), and they may not be used more than once a month. Should you ever lose the annals your troops have disadvantage on all attacks during warfare battles until the annals are retrieved. If they are destroyed your company is broken and you lose all your units. You must undertake a great quest to restart the annals and the company in a new form.

Company Banner-bearer. The company banner has the power to motivate your troops and officers to accomplish heroic feats. You gain the feature below:

Rally the Troops. As a bonus action you may inspire your one of your fellow officers of your choice by waving the flag, granting them an extra attack on your turn. You may do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, but must complete a long rest before doing so again. The banner is mounted on a pole which functions as a mundane spear, but it has the light property, allowing you to benefit from dual wielding if you choose to use another weapon in your other hand. The spear lacks the thrown property though, and cannot be used as a ranged weapon. Additionally, when you command troops in a warfare battle each unit you command is inspired by your example and the banner, granting them advantage on their first attack of their first activation of the battle. This benefit may only be used again after you complete an extended rest of one week, and may not be used more than once a month.

3. Considerations for Characters

Characters can be extremely diverse, but the themes mentioned above should be kept in mind so you don’t create a character that is incompatible with the campaign concept.

You should keep in mind that you will need a party balanced for all types of play including: combat, dungeon delving, social and political intrigue, warfare, exploration, and survival. Depending on your goals you could engage with all types of play, and your party should attempt to cover all these bases. The list of party roles from RPGBot may be helpful in making these choices; the author notes that not all of these can be covered by most parties, but that some members can cover multiple roles:

• Blaster - Area of effect abilities
• Controller - Control battlefield movement or crowds of enemies 
• Defender - Protects squishier party members
• Face - Social interactions 
• Healer - Provides healing
• Scholar - Provides knowledge skill proficiencies 
• Scout - Infiltrates and/or finds traps
• Striker - Powerful at single target damage or disabling 
• Support - Provides buffs and debugging capabilities to help other members
• Utility Caster - Provides non-combat aids to travel or knowledge, normally through spellcasting

Your characters are veteran warriors and adventurers. The characters and their retainers are the primary spellcasters in the company (other than a few NPCs from your ranks that the GM may introduce). Your characters will begin at fifth level for this campaign.

Don’t over-stress about these decisions. If you find your character unsatisfactory after a few sessions we can easily kill them off, or have them elect to leave their senior officer position to step back into the rank and file. One of your retainers or a totally new character can be promoted in their place.

3. Introduce the Character Options

Player’s first stop should be my list of default player options, which includes all approved class and subclass options. It also includes the basic ancestries. For this campaign only one player may choose an ancestry from my rare ancestries list.

4. Review Additional Systems that will Impact Character Choices

This campaign will use the rules from Uncharted Journeys for long travel, which assign specific roles to different party members on a journey. Certain character types fit certain roles better, so keep this in mind while creating your characters (GM will provide the book and rules for reference). Additionally, if you were to capture or purchase a ship we will use additional ship rules which similarly assign different roles to characters, and those will be provided for reference too. Finally, you will derive certain mechanical benefits from your company officer roles, which you should have in mind from step two.

5. Build Characters and Create Backstories

Based on your work above and answers to the questions, create your fifth level character and work with other players and the GM to integrate your backstories together. The GM can answer questions about the setting and might work with you to create new locations and details from your characters’ background. Every character will have the bond: You are sworn to the company, and will defend it and complete its contracts above all other concerns—even your own life.

Because we are starting at higher level, characters will have 500 gp plus 1d10 x 25 gp, one uncommon magic item, and normal starting equipment for your class and background. They can spend the gold on additional mundane equipment during character creation.

7. Pick Retainers and Create Backstories 

Your retainers are the junior officers of the company. Each player will pick two retainers who work for them. They will be roleplayed by the GM, but run by players in combat. Players can pick one of their retainers to accompany the party at a time on adventures. You can swap this retainer out whenever it makes sense narratively (normally when you return to wherever your company is bedded down to take a rest in safety. The same rule applies if the party gets into an encounter when with their troops, because the other retainers are occupied leading the rank and file in potentially fighting their own encounters too. Retainers are also intended to be an easily promoted replacement character should yours die, so keep this in mind when picking them.

Develop a background for your retainers, using the same questions that you did for your characters and put these details in the format of the universal NPC template from Justin Alexander.

Format:

Name: Self explanatory.

Appearance: A physical description of the retainer (in addition to this, find a piece of art work if you can for a token)

Roleplaying:

• This is two to three brief bullet points.
• They each describe different personality traits or attitudes.
• Maybe include one distinctive mannerism that they do.

Background: This is narrative and provides a brief description of the character’s past, answering the question posed above.

Key Info:

• These are bullet points of important information or roles the retainer has.
• Perhaps they are in charge of your spies.
• Or are in charge of your scouts.
• Or training your troops.
• Perhaps they are a surgeon or chaplain.
• Or a ritual healer.

The retainers available are found in Strongholds & Followers, Flee Mortals, and The Illrigger and they reflect the core game classes and subclasses from the Player’s Handbook, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and the Illrigger subclasses. Additional retainers made to represent other classes or the additional subclasses from the player options list will need to be custom made by the GM, so if you are interested in one in particular then just let the GM know what type of character you are interested in having as a retain let so they can build it.

8. Introduce the Scenario: Contract of Vraugate

Your current contract has brought you through the Desolation of Tsar and the Mountains of the Spine to the Northern Lands, where the stars dance alongside shimmering rainbow lights in the night. Your latest contract is to guard the small city of Vraugate from the predations of a clan of ice giant reavers and their ice goblin minions. The summer has been spent in indolence, but the attack has come on a cold night as the weather has begun to turn. It is the last chance of the season for the ice giants’ longships to raid the city before their passage is barred by the ice of winter. You need only repulse their assaults and you will at last have completed the contract and receive your final payment of fifteen thousand gold pieces, a massive boon to your treasury. What will your next moves be? You will decide if you can survive this battle.

The Contract of Vraugate is a challenging combat scenario with multiple dilemmas designed to demonstrate to you that you can’t solve all the problems in this campaign and that your choices have consequences. It will also allow you to synergize and develop your tactics as a group of powerful characters. Additionally it will provide several tutorial scenarios for the warfare system so that you can gain more familiarity with it.