Highthrone D&D

One day long lost in the mists of the past, Paul commented that he was fondest of D&D games using relatively low-level characters. Seems that he was not enamored of the incredibly compensatory stats and hardware higher-level characters often found themselves sporting. Nor was he fond of the extravagant lengths to which he had to go to find opposition worthy of them. On the positive side, he was tremendously fond of the Highthrone setting from Mongoose Publishing (who appear to no longer acknowledge its existence, though RPGShop.com does) and resolved that he had no choice but to run a game that somehow used it.

With lethargic speed, his Highthrone D&D campaign coalesced from the formless void. The premise is simple: the characters are all members of the Sangaree trading family (or at the very least are somehow associated with it). The family has decided to take advantage of a new highway to open a trade route to the city of Highthrone. And once one group of characters has gone through enough adventures to bring them to a level high enough that they are no longer endearingly whimsical, they retire. The campaign timeline then advances several years, and a new collection of characters are created as the children and younger relatives of the previous group.

The Characters

Character	Player	Race	Class	Description
Darg Sangaree	Chuck	~~Human~~ ~~Elf~~ Centaur	Fighter; Cleric	A doughty priest of Kord and an enthusiastic backer of physical improvement programs. In his spare time, inflicts fatal blows upon ghastly monsters. Joined the group after the untimely death of Morgan Sangaree. Killed by Tomas Silverleaf on 06/06/2004. Reincarnated as a centaur, but left the group shortly afterwards to run free on the central plains.
Grod Sangaree	Mike	Half-Orc	Fighter	Strong. Tough. Not so bright. And very, very chaotic. Departed the group to take up a job as headsman for Lord Chopfist in the North on 12/07/2003.
Marcus Sangaree	Chuck	~~Human~~ Elf	Cleric, Rogue	Tonk's second cousin, dispatched to take the place of the unfortunate Darg Sangaree on 06/20/2004. Everyone else is glad to see him arrive, as it has been quite a while since the group included a rogue with thumbs. Killed on 08/08/2004, but very quickly reincarnated into the body of an elf. Insufferable for proclaiming himself to be the prettiest.
Morgan Sangaree	Chuck	Human	Bard	A clever and well-considered fellow who often knew the most amazing things. Sadly, he wasn't as quick with his parry as he should have been: he was slain by gnolls on 11/09/2003.
Padachee Sangaree	Tim	Human	Wizard	Originally a member of the Yost family, Padachee's marriage to Wegmun Sangaree was part of the deal that allied the families. She recently decided that she'd had enough of family life and headed out to find some adventure. She has only appeared briefly, and as of 01/18/2004 is somewhat retired.
Tonk Sangaree	Chris	Human	Fighter	The rational face of the group, and wielder of a mean greatsword besides. Tonk has the unusual distinction of being the group member with the smallest number of negative personality traits.
Anpago Yost	Tim	~~Human~~ Pixie	Wizard	Up until his untimely death at the hands of a stone giant on 12/21/2003, Anpago was the ass-kickinest Wizard this side of the Spider Woods. And as of 01/18/2004, he's back, reincarnated as a pixie.
Longfellow Yost	Bruce	~~Human~~ Crag Eagle	Rogue; Druid	Circle of Life, dude. Circle of Life. Oddly enough, Longfellow didn't get killed by his companions for uttering that phrase. He was killed on 01/04/2004 by a boulder trap, and then quickly reincarnated into the shape of a crag eagle. Go figure.
Andrinor	Billy	~~Human~~ Pixie	Wizard	He's always late, but he did attend the prestigious School of the Arcane Arts in Highthrone. And he keeps an ice para-elemental around as a familiar. And ever since his untimely death on 06/20/2004, he's a pixie!
Mebble	Billy	Halfling	Ranger	Longfellow mocks him for his size and Tonk mocks him because he's a ranger, but nobody says anything when he mounts his giant riding boar and nocks an arrow. At least up until he got killed on 03/28/2004 when he exercised tremendously poor decision-making skills and opened a book protected by a Rune of Instant Death. As with so many other characters he was reincarnated. Unfortunately, he came back as a hawk and quickly flew into the sunset, never to be seen again.
Gero	Georgina	Halfling	Fighter-Barbarian	She grew up in an orchard, knows how to take down a tundra wildebeest with her bare teeth, and can go for knees. She joined the group on 07/11/2004 after a brief stint at the Yost-Sangaree Re-Education Programme.

The World

Map of the Kingdom of Davra
Map of the Kingdom of Davra (no labels)

The Session Summaries

The 09/14/2003 Highthrone D&D game (Our great journey begins. Plus there are zombies!)
The 09/28/2003 Highthrone D&D game (The undead of Marais D'Tarascon are set to rest!)
The 10/12/2003 Highthrone D&D game (Crawling through an abandoned castle)
The 10/26/2003 Highthrone D&D game (Sometimes, druids are bad eggs. Rangers, too.)
The 11/09/2003 Highthrone D&D game (There are gnolls in the Murderbane Woods!)
The 11/23/2003 Highthrone D&D game (The gnoll threat is ended. Rejoicing all around.)
The 12/07/2003 Highthrone D&D game (The tournament at Oakwood! All hail Pelor!)
The 12/21/2003 Highthrone D&D game (Anpago is killed by a giant, but the rest of us kick ass against the goblin raiders.)
The 01/04/2004 Highthrone D&D game (This time, Longfellow gets killed, squashed flat by a rock.)
The 01/18/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Longfellow returns, bigger and badder than before. He's a crag eagle now! AWWWK!)
The 02/01/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Goblin-chopping in the Forbidden City)
The 02/15/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We are victorious, and we have a re-deaded paladin to show for it!)
The 02/29/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Lord Kildare Dostavar comes to a sticky end. Some Black Rain guys come to a crispy one.)
The 03/28/2004 Highthrone D&D game (I miss the game, but Chuck provides a gripping account of how two-thirds of the party gets blown up...)
The 04/11/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We go to a party. If only it could be so simple.)
The 04/25/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Half of the group fails to show up. The other half massacres nightlings in the catacombs.)
The 05/09/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We go back to Harsef's Tomb and take the stone golem to school.)
The 06/06/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Tobias and Tomas Silverleaf attack, and Darg is slain!)
The 06/20/2004 Highthrone D&D game (The Flame King does a structure hit on the docks!)
The 07/11/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We do a structure hit on the Flame King's fortress, but somebody got to it first...)
The 07/25/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Tonk shatters the Frozen Soul and lives to tell about it!)
The 08/08/2004 Highthrone D&D game (I miss the game, but Chuck steps in with a summary about how his character got whacked by wyverns after Tonk fell asleep on guard...)
The 08/22/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We cleanse an old Temple of Hieroneous, kill one of the dastardly yak folk, and return with the Sacred Stone)
The 09/05/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We knock down the fiendish Harchiman and his goblin bandits on the way back from Redcliff)
The 09/19/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Longfellow misses the game, but the others slaughter a variety of water-borne villains).
The 10/03/2004 Highthrone D&D game (Chaiya's ogrish minions kill Watches-Birds and Kurge the Execution slays Lady Chiron)
The 10/31/2004 Highthrone D&D game (The Forgotten Ones step onto the stage only briefly, but it's enough to scare the bejeesus out of us).
The 11/14/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We learn that Highthrone politics sometimes involves werewolves and abductions).
The 11/28/2004 Highthrone D&D game (We send Atseyet on a trip to the great unknown).
The 12/12/2004 Highthrone D&D game (The campaign ends with a barbecue. Lord Rosh attends.)

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