Umber

You have been brought together by war, famine, boredom, curiosity.  Some of you may have been refugees from the despoiled outlands; some of you have found your way here by sheer boredom or an assumption of excitement in the city.  Whatever the case, you are here, in the great city of Irongate, which has stood through battle and siege and a changing world.
 
The scene changes; a panoramic view of the mighty city by the Sea.  Gulls flock around the busy port, as ships of war and trade sit wallowing against the stone piers.  Men and women perform an intricate dance on and around the ships, preparing them for voyages to places you have only heard of.  The view slows its pace as it contracts towards the docks, right along the waterfront and into a doorway, over which hangs a sign – “Merman’s Folly”.
 
Into the Tavern it goes, past the drunks snoring loudly at the tables near the entry.  Past the busy tavern floor, over the beer-stained planks and tables.  The babble of raucous conversation fills your ears as the view moves through the crowd into a small back room, where a group of people sit on stools and rickety chairs around a rectangular table.
 
The tall, pale man at the head of the table speaks.  “Thank you all for answering the call of the criers.  I am Lucan.  My master, the illustrious Varrus son of Hamand, has instructed me to gather a crew together to teach a lesson to a notorious pirate who hunts in the Azure Sea.”
 
“This pirate has caused my master much damage, both to his reputation, and to his pocketbook.  He intends you to to rid the seas of this notorious scoundrel.  Will you avail us of your services and help us protect the sea lanes?  We will provide the necessary seaborne transportation, as our agents have narrowed this pirate’s base of operations to a chain of islands between Irongate and Scant.”
 
“As for a reward, we will provide you with 500 gold pieces each on the successful elimination of these dirty beggars.  You may keep whatever you find, of course, as long as it does not bear my master’s seal.  What say you?”
 
He looks at you expectantly.

Generating New Characters
Some quick notes on generating new characters:

We’ll be (mostly) following the Living Greyhawk Campaign rules. In short, this means:

[No deviations allowed]
–  28 point characters
–  Start with basic (no masterwork) equipment
–  Start with max gold for your selected class

[Strongly recommend (if you wish to diverge from this, that’s OK, but please run all such divergences past me)]
– PHB (3.5) classes
– PHB (3.5) races
– Non-evil characters and deities

House rule modifications:
– Clerics and paladins have Sense Motive in-class
– Death effects and spells bring the character to -10 hp instead of outright death.
– If you die (reach fewer than zero HP), and are subsequently brought back up, you are stunned for one round. Your initiative is reset to follow the character that brought you back.

The State of the World During the Apocalypse
This is intended to be a guideline only. When in doubt, please ask for a ruling.

Oerth is currently not in contact with the rest of the multiverse. Until and assuming the Creation Seed / Tree of Life is taken out of the clutch of Ouroboros (well, OK, the demon Ammet, but he is pretty darned serpentine, after all) and put back to its proper location, things are NQR.

On the good side:

– Undead are severely limited. Energy draining (being a Necromantic power equivalent to the 4th level Wizard spell Enervation) simply fails. Other effects may as well, though you’ll have to experience them first-hand to know for sure. Note that ghosts may still be incorporeal (this is not the same as being ethereal).
– Banishment spells destroy outsiders since there is no place for them to go.

On the bad side:

– No effects whose descriptions specifically mention alternate planes (Astral Steed, Blink, Plane Shift, etc.)
– No Necromantic effects greater than 3rd level. Lower level spells (Cause Fear, Ray of Enfeeblement) are the result of the relationship between caster and target directly, while energy draining spells (Enervation) require the presence of the Negative Material plane.
– No Illusion (Shadow) effects (Shadow Conjuration, Shadow Evocation, etc.)
– No Conjuration (Summoning) effects that summon outsiders. Note that Summon Monster I and II specifically summon outsiders, while the more powerful variants can summon normal creatures. For example, Summon Monster III could be used to summon a Thoqqua but not a Celestial Bear; Summon Monster IV could be used to summon a Giant Eagle but not a Lantern Archon, etc.
– No teleportation effects. This includes psionic powers such as Call Weapon, which is Psychoportation [Teleportation], but not Skate since the latter is simply Psychoporation and does not mention the use of other planes.
– No True Seeing. This spell is designed to be able to see into the Ethereal Plane and depends on being able to make contact with it. If you cast this spell, your vision will be filled with the mystical words “Error: Could not allocate ethereal_plane handle. Aborting.”

On the utterly unknown side:

– Clerics:  While your deities are mostly out of touch, you are still able to access spells.  However, some spells and spell levels are not available.  You may not know which ones do and do not work, as you will still be able to memorize those spells.  Don’t be suprised if something fizzles.
– Wizards:  During this time of fundamental change, magic is different.  Every time you cast a spell you are aware that something is not quite right, or somehow just different.  Some spells and spell levels are not available.  You may not know which ones do and do not work, as you will still be able to memorize those spells.  Don’t be suprised if something fizzles.
– Death:  Death is hard.  Harder than it used to be.  Be warned.  Due to the chaotic nature of the world at this time, random effects may happen.  There is the possibility of using the Ghostwalk rules for post-death play, but I have not read that book yet.