Light in a broken world
2022 / 03 / 15
A century ago, the forces of darkness swept down from the North. The crushed the free cities of Humanity, drove the Elves back into the depths of the forests, and besieged the Dwarves in their mountain holds. Now the corrupted lieutenants of a dark God rule these broken kingdoms with an iron fist, while hunting down those braves few who still struggle defiantly against the evil that consumes their world. Do you have what it takes to survive the dark night?
Join us today as we preview the player section of Midnight: Legacy of Darkness, a new edition of the classic roleplaying game from Edge Studio!
The player section not only provides vital background information you need to create your character like cultures, classes, feats, and spells, but also includes basic information on the world of Eredane to prepare you for your upcoming adventures.
Read on to discover what secrets this 372-page book holds for players looking to adventure in the world of Midnight.
How to Use This Book
Midnight: Legacy of Darkness is designed as supplemental material to the D20 system core rules. Some rules are expanded upon in this product, but it requires a copy of the core rules to play. This book is published under the Open Gaming License, taking the world of Midnight and making it compatible with the current d20 system utilized by other popular games.
This allows players to experience the world of Midnight within the confines of a modern ruleset. Midnight: Legacy of Darkness updates the world of Eredane without sacrificing its core identity.
The world’s history
Character races found in Midnight: Legacy of Darkness will be familiar to anyone who has used the D20 system. However, the versions of these races found in the world of Midnight offer several key differences thanks to the unique history of Eredane. Thematically, each race’s unique history presents new story and play opportunity for players.
All these races are connected by the encroaching darkness of the shadow. Their histories are all defined by the great evil that rules their lands, giving each a tragic bent in line with the world of Midnight. Mechanically, each race has unique traits and subraces found in Midnight: Legacy of Darkness.
For example, the humans of Eredane were once a proud and unified people who shared a rich historical legacy born of invasion, expansion, and grand alliance. Now, the conquest of Izrador has left them a bitter and broken people, subjugated in once great cities or living off the land in the wilderness. Most live in daily fear, trust is in short supply and there’s little hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Humans are divided into three subraces. The first, the Dorns of the north live in ruins of their once great cities and forgotten wastelands, scrounging whatever they can to survive. Choosing the Dorn subrace means a boost to strength and gaining proficiency in Survival.
The second subrace, the Sarcosans, live a very different life. Unlike the Dorns, several cities in Sarcosan territory still stand, and humans live in them much like their ancestors did. But it is a false luxury, as though the cities still stand the spirit that built them has long since been crushed. Many Sarcosans are beginning to choose a nomadic life, becoming one with their horses as their ancestors once did. Choosing the life of a Sarcosan means additional dexterity and a proficiency in Animal Handling or History.
Finally, for more than two thousand years, the descendants of the Dorns and the colonial Sarcosans have lived together as two cultures unified by military, commercial, and royal alliance under the single banner of the nation of Erenland. Erenlanders are the true children of their kingdom, a people born of two ancient traditions but owing loyalty instead to one nation. Getting the best of both worlds, characters with the Erenlander subrace gain proficiency in two skills of your choice as well a proficiency in land vehicles and artisan tools of their choice.
All three of these subraces are unique to the world and culture of Midnight and will help you craft a character truly unique to you.
Finding Your Path
To be an Avenger, one must be dedicated to stymying the Shadow at every turn, and through any available means. Many avengers are more spies than assassins, gathering information about their oppressors and dispatching it to the remaining bands who fight against the Shadow.
The next step in creating a character is choosing a heroic path. In Midnight: Legacy of Darkness, heroic paths are represented as a series of feats. These are called heroic path feats, but mechanically, they function in the same manner as other feats. When your character has an option to select a feat; they can choose to select a heroic path feat instead of a normal feat or an ability score increase as long as they meet the prerequisites. Each heroic path feat has prerequisites that limit you to selecting feats from a single heroic path and taking those feats in a specific order. Essentially, your character is on a set path, gaining more and more powerful thematic abilities as they level up. Midnight: Legacy of Darkness holds 12 paths for you to choose from, including the Avenger.
To be an Avenger, one must be dedicated to stymying the Shadow at every turn, and through any available means. Many avengers are more spies than assassins, gathering information about their oppressors and dispatching it to the remaining bands who fight against the Shadow. They know that one accurate report can lead to the death of more of Izrador’s minions than they could ever hope to kill alone. Other avengers prefer more direct means of retribution. Many legates have been found dead in their beds, a grim reminder that as long as at least one avenger lives, no minion of the Shadow can consider themselves truly safe.
On the Avenger path, you begin with the Lurk ability, giving you the ability to fade into the background with a dexterity or wisdom check. Though not truly invisible, the lurk ability can give you the perfect advantage at just the right time. However, if you stay on the path of the Avenger, you can gain the Unseen Lurker feat, making you truly invisible whenever you choose to lurk, a true master of stealth.
Discovering your class
The classes of characters will be familiar to anyone who has used the D20 system before, but their background has been adjusted for this setting. For example, Bards do exist in Eredane, though they are not the merry singers and entertainers some might associate with that name. Instead, bards tend to be wandering gossipmongers and storytellers, roaming from town to town to stay ahead of the Shadow while parlaying the news they learn and some brief song or merriment for a place to lay their head and a few meager morsels for their dinner.
While some classes have been radically altered for the setting, others have been blocked off completely. There is only one god in Midnight, and that means the only clerics on Aryth are the legates who pledge themselves to Izrador. Thus, the clerics one encounters in Eredane are universally evil servants of a malign power, and the sworn enemies of the resistance. In other words, you can’t play a cleric.
<<To be an Avenger, one must be dedicated to stymying the Shadow at every turn, and through any available means. Many avengers are more spies than assassins, gathering information about their oppressors and dispatching it to the remaining bands who fight against the Shadow.>>
Your First Steps
These decisions will help you paint your character, and additional options like player backgrounds and custom feats will help you flesh them out even more. With the first section of Midnight: Legacy of Darkness, you can create a character tuned to the land of Eredane. But this is just the beginning, can you keep the flame of hope alive long enough to survive the night? Find out when Midnight: Legacy of Darkness releases later this year.
