This campaign is very loosely based in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, mostly just using the maps. It will make reference to common places and individuals from that setting, but those references may or may not stay true to the originals. Please be careful not to assume too much. Also, the campaign's deities are loosely based on Egyptian gods and mythology. Again, please make sure to read the religion section as it explains in detail what to expect from the deities.

The campaign will make use of the 3rd Edition Dungeon and Dragons rules coming out this August at GenCon. All players should be familiar with the rules in the Players Handbook, which is on sale at amazon.com for 13.97 as a pre-order. We will endeavor to stay as close to the printed rules as possible. Still, it is unlikely that we will not want to change a few. When changes are proposed I will post them on the "News You Can Use" message board for debate.

This campaign is mostly designed for good-aligned characters, though neutral characters should have no problems fitting in. Evil character will likely run into some troubles. The campaign will accept evil characters only in special circumstances and only after much scruntiny. Remember evil characters are just that. They are not evil when they want to be or to who they want to be, that would be more of a neutral character. All I ask as the DM is that your alignment stay consistent. If you do decide to take on the challenge of an evil character be advised that if the character uses outside knowledge in the game or if they just become too powerful, I may take over that character's role and play them as a villain.

The games will likely take place on Friday nights or during the weekend and last for 3 or 4 hours. They will likely take place at the CQG offices downtown, as it provides a good space and a central location. I will try to announce games on the "News You Can Use" message board. The rough limit to any game will be 6 players, however that maybe adjusted up or down for any given game. Be aware that not everyone will be able to play at each game, so please be courteous to the other players.

Most of the games will be originals. However, I will be taking ideas and adventures from other sources to supplement the campaign. Please do not go poking through Dungeon magazine or adventures published by Wizards of the Coast, more likely than not you'll just be ruining it for yourself and the other players. If I think that you are trying to gain an unfair advantage I will take measures that your character will most likely not enjoy. In case your wondering I've already have the first game finished and I am working on more.

A character will function normally until their hit points are reduced to zero, then again unlike standard rules; the character will become stunned. When stunned their movement will be at 1/3, they will lose all dexterity bonuses to their armor class, attacker will gain a +4 to hit, and they will not be able to cast spells. However, they will be able to extricate themselves from a dangerous situation, chug a potion, or use a magic item that does not call for the summoning of magic.

When the character reaches –10 they will become unconscious and will begin to lose hit points at the rate of –1 per round. The character will be considered dead after they fall below the original –10 minus plus their constitution statistic (i.e. a character with a 14 constitution will be dead at –24). Before that time any healing will work to full effect, but after that time anything short of a raise dead will be to no avail.

Possibly one of the most frustrating rules that continues to hang around in the new edition is "Fire and Forget" spell casting. According to the rules a spellcaster must memorize each spell seperately and then once it's cast it's gone. We have always felt that this rules strangles the creativity and playability of mages. However, since we can't give them free reign on all the spells, we've come up with a system that should stike a balance.

When a spellcaster memorizes a spell for the day, they will be able to cast that spell as many times as their level would allow. In esance a "Fire and NOT Forget" system. As an example, a fifth level Druid with a wisdom of 18 would be able to cast 4 1st, 3 2nd, and 2 3rd level spells. The druid descides to memorize Cure Light Wounds, Entangle, Shillelgh, and Faerie Fire as his first level spells. Under this system he could then cast Cure Light Wounds 4 times if he liked, or he could cast it 3 times and then cast Entangle once. In fact, he could cast any combination of the first level spells he's memorized upto his limit of 4 a day.

In addition to the system, specialized Wizards and Clerics have some spells that do not count towards the spells they can memorize each day. A specialized Wizard does not have to memorize the spells from their specialty school and can cast those spells at any time, and a Cleric devoted to a particular god does not have to memorize the god's domain spells and similarly can cast those spells at any time. However, if they use those spells in conjuction with a metamagic feat, then they do have to memorized at the appropriate level.

The only spellcasting class that must worry themselves with learning new spells is the Wizard class. The new rules have some good rules as to how to learn spells, however in this campaign it will be somewhat more difficult trying to learn a spell straight from a book. Conversely, it will be a little easier to learn a spell being taught. To be taught a spell the Wizard will need to make a spellcraft check against a DC of 13 plus the spell level, to learn a spell from an unfamiliar spellbook the DC will go up to 17 pluse twice the spell level. Also, if a Wizard fails to learn a spell from an aquired book the spell will disappear from the book. The +2 bonus for learning spells from your specialty school still applies.

The DC for crafting magic items will be 20 plus twice the relative power level of the item. A +1 sword will have s DC of 22, while a +2 will have a 24. Difficulty classes for spell related item will be a little more subjective, but will general follow the guidelines outlined in the DM's Guide. Most likely we will come to some agreement on a particuler items DC.

One other note, wands will not hold 50 charges when created as the book states but will instead hold as many spells as the crafter can cast into it in one day. If the crafter can cast 4 second level spells, then they could make a wand of invisibility with 4 charges. If effectively makes them multiuse scrolls.

These two feats can only be used in conjunction with a power attack. To gain the benefits of Cleave the character will have to do a power attack of +1, while Greater Cleave will only go off with a power attack of +4 or better.

The Metamagic feats are a a good idea, but several of them are a little bit too costly for the advantage they give. The Maximize Spell feat will now only need the spell to be prepared at two levels higher than normal, and the Quicken spell feat will only need the spell to be prepared three levels higher. All other Metamagic Feats will not be changed.

To provide for more specialization of skills characters will be able to maximize their rank in a skill at their level x 2 or level +3, whichever is higher, for class skills. For cross class skill the limit will be the characters level.

Each sucessive attempt at fienting the same opponent will give them a +5 to thier opposed sense motive roll (i.e. 2nd attempt give =5, 3rd attempt gives +10, and so on)