Author's Notes
Keith Haney 2004
The Lost Empire of Zeratti was the last
campaign I created for my original game group. It was also the first
time I realized how much the fantasy worlds I create are a reflection
of my life experiences and influences. I collaborated to create this
campaign with one of my long time friends John Campbell. John had moved
to New York a few years prior to this project, but we still exchanged
ideas and concepts. This was before the internet was as ubiquitous
as it is today so we had very little interaction and we developed the
world independent of each other. On a trip out to the east coast I
stopped by to see John and collect his portion of development, which
was vast! His writings and illustrations added a great deal to the
work I had been doing.
Excitement about the campaign was high and several
new players had joined the group. My well intentioned desire to include
everyone who wanted to play actually made it difficult for any of
the players to get good play time. Eight characters is too many for
effective role-playing. Even so, we had many nights of meaningful
and memorable role-playing.
The materials contained here were never intended
for publication and were created purely for the enjoyment of my gaming
group. I present them here in their original form in the hopes that
it will inspire further development on your part or perhaps a piece
of the world will appeal to your needs in your world.
The campaign is set in a jungle environment. I chose
this because I wanted to really sink my teeth into adventuring in
a new environment. The real problem with setting a mood and convincing
the players that they are adventuring in a jungle stems from the
fact that I have never set foot in a real jungle. I was
going to have to rely on movies and photos to provide me with the
environment descriptions I would use. The old axiom" write about
what you know" was thrown out the door in this case.
The art style I created for this world was really
a product of trying to create as many characters a quickly as possible.
I would later refine some of the characters as their involvement
with the players increased. You will note too that I have included
drawings of the player characters from my group. I really think this
helps the players visualize their character better, but I don't always
make time for this in every campaign.
John L. Campbell 2006
I was recently asked to comment on the
genesis of the “Lost Empire of the Zeratti” by
my co-creator, Keith Haney. Co-creator isn’t right, though. It
implies an equal amount of shared work. To this day I consider
myself a junior partner at best, and grateful for the opportunity to
expand on some of his ideas. The campaign belongs to him.
It was the mid-nineties, and I was living in New
York. Separated from my gaming group by two thousand miles
of fly-over country, I was deep in the throes of role playing withdrawal
and the creative jitters. Along comes a phone call with an
offer to contribute to the development of a campaign. Looking
back, I’m not at all certain it wasn’t a simple request
for a single module and maybe a general critique of the overall idea. I,
however, took it as free license to create, and went completely off
the deep end.
I immediately asked for a rough written overview
of the campaign idea, thoughts on where the action should go, desired
villains, heroes, geographic notes, limitations on weaponry, magic,
religion, regional philosophy. This request was met with a
period of silence at the other end of the phone…did I hear
a disgusted snort? Can’t remember. Finally, my “co-creator” (Read
afterward as “DM,” and feel free to refer to me as “Scribbler-ready-to-burst-with-enthusiasm-like-a-seventeen-year-old-on-prom-night,”)
gently suggested that the project was still in DEVELOPMENT (development,
idiot) and that was the purpose of the call. I’m quite
sure I had some witty remark like, “Oh…” He
then offered to send a care package and see what I could make of
it.
The glorious care package! Were those angelic
trumpets I was hearing? Yes, yes, send it right away! Make
sure it’s thick, with lots of drawings! I have always
been a drooling fan and collector of Keith’s art…I still
have game-night doodles of his safely preserved in sheet protectors
and tucked away under the tightest of security. I believe one
was even on a cocktail napkin. Oh yes, safely tucked away. And
insured.
And so I waited. And waited. One of
the many common traits Keith and I share is terminal procrastination. Alright,
maybe it wasn’t that long of a wait. Maybe I was just
excited. At last the promised package arrived.
Within that padded envelope was a stack of twenty-plus
drawings, a couple of maps, and five or six pages of notes and ideas. The
campaign setting was an unexplored and tropical realm, recently (within
30 years or so) invaded by European-types who had established a small
but prosperous colony. Players would either be recently arrived
from the Old World, or would be natives of some sort. There
was an outline of the ancient Zeratti culture (painted in very broad
strokes), but most of this world was as much a mystery to us as it
would be to the players. I had struck creative gold, and with
that I was off and running.
I feel it important to point out at this stage that
our collaboration was limited to the occasional phone call, and no
work was actually delivered until he made a trip to New York later
that year. More on that in a moment.
The setting was what first captured my attention. A
truly tropical environment…hot, humid, rainy, wild and untamed; A
small city like an island of civilization amid unfathomable dangers; An
endless jungle wherein absolutely anything might be found; Bizarre,
tribal cultures; A forgotten empire slowly sinking beneath
vines and brush; Dangerous adversaries from both the New World
and the Old; Players who would find themselves not as conquerors,
but as interlopers, “savages” from a corrupt and rotting
realm up against cultures – humanoid and otherwise – far
older and larger than their own.
At once I was seized by a storm of ideas, and for
many months I existed under the all-consuming heat of Zeratti Fever. Some
dark and powerful force from deep within that steamy jungle possessed
me, and demanded that I serve. And so I did. I made maps
of geographic regions, created a second, smaller outpost city and
fully populated it, developed a pretty decent villain, created adventures
and modules, developed story plots, and designed a few monsters (I’m
particularly proud of the “Green Rain” and even happier
with the chilling response it received from the players when it was
actually introduced.) I created a forgotten Zeratti city, rocked
long ago by earthquakes, devoured by the jungle and populated with
legions of nasties. The city wasn’t enough, however,
and I designed – in obsessive detail – the culture of
those who had once walked the now-overgrown streets, complete with
new varieties of armor and weapons, wall paintings, statues, religious
icons, temples to forgotten deities, bits of the language and relative
translations, and remnants of the common man’s life, right
down to the spoons and soup bowls. All accompanied by crude
(and hopefully destroyed) sketches and drawings. Oh yes, let
us not forget no less than six pieces of short fiction based upon
the campaign.
Crazed? Maybe. Zeratti Fever has only
a 25% survival rate.
Late in the year, Keith paid a visit. He wasn’t
in the door for more than five minutes before I disappeared into
another room and emerged with a stack of files that would give a
burro a hernia. I’ll never forget the look of disbelief
on his face, or his comment.
“You’ve been busy.”
“Really? I’ve been too busy to
notice.” (Zeratti Fever induces a severe case of distraction.) We
were up until the wee hours pouring over the work, and when he left,
the trunk of his rental car sagged considerably. I’ve
often wondered if the airline charged him an over-the-weight-limit
fee on his baggage.
Although I continued to contribute to the campaign
in sporadic bursts afterwards, the bulk of my involvement culminated
with that grand pile of work, and I was content. The experience
of long-range collaboration (again, without the instant wonders and
possibilities of a more mature internet) was surreal. We’re
about to try it again on a limited basis, and already I feel the
temperature rising as a new fever grips me. My single regret
on Zeratti was not getting the chance to participate in
the actual gaming, to see it unfold.
I think about that campaign often, though. It
remains one of my best inspiration moments. I may not have
been able to see the players’ reactions, didn’t get to
hear the narratives or watch the dice roll, had to live vicariously
through telephone recaps of gaming sessions, but in my daydreams
I frequently walk among those impossibly high trees, sweltering under
an emerald canopy and waiting for those first drops of Green Rain. In
the Lost Empire of Zeratti. |
