The Gateway Campaign is set on Earth, a few years into the future. We are using the D20 Modern rules to govern much of the game play. Some places the players travel to are governed more by the 3rd edition D&D rules, or custom rules developed for this campaign.
My nephews and I started this campaign a couple weeks back. After three game playing sessions I decided to put some of the campaign's content on a web page.
Background - The back story for the campaign.
Characters - Player and non-player characters from the campaign.
Adventure Journal
New Items
In 1962, a townhouse in the city of Philadelphia was purchased by a young couple, both recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. The former owner of the house was an elderly gentleman with an soft Irish accent who lived in the States since the turn of the century. His stated reason for selling the house was so that he could move back to his beloved County Mayo in his native Ireland.
Several years later, the couple now with two children, they decided to spend some money and renovate the house for their growing family. As the contractors tore at the sub-basement and basement levels, attempting to run ducts for a new air conditioner, they discovered a metallic surface covered with electric charge. Thinking they had run into a serious electrical problem, the couple hired electricians to determine if there was a short in the house.
Three days later, a mysterious man dressed in a loose-fitting grey flannel suit appeared at their front door. He presented the couple with his business card, simply stating his name - Arthur Heinz - and his company - The Metaphysical Society. He informed the couple that their house had significant historical value and that he was prepared to offer the couple quite a large sum for the house.
The couple, worried that the house had more problems than they were aware of, and fearing for the safety of their two children, accepted the man's generous offer.
The Metaphysical Society took possession of one of the few gateways located in the Western Hemisphere, and the only one located North of Central Mexico. The Gateway allows men and women to travel to other planes of existence. Unfortunately, it also allows beings to travel to Earth. The Society, having finally found the gateway which they had been searching for over the past century, began the task of protecting the secrecy of the gate and preventing malevolent beings from invading Earth through the gate.
The Society organizes itself around three tasks. First, they seek to protect the gateway from forces on Earth and beyond who desire to control the power of the gate. Second, when creatures from other realms enter the Earth the agents of the Society locate these beings, determine their reason for travelling to Earth and either eliminate them or return them to their realm of origin. Lastly, the Society sends explorers through the gateway to expand their understanding of the realms beyond Earth.
In addition to the gate in Philadelphia, the Society maintains an awareness of other gateways located throughout the world. Some of these gateways are controlled my other friendly agencies, while others are controlled by evil organizations, seeking to control Earth through the power offered by the gate.
There are other gateways, of which no living being is aware. Whether located on a remote island, at the bottom of the sea in a sunken continent, or hidden in the dungeons of a lost mountain city, no one knows.
The players, recently hired by the Society, have been tasked with performing missions on the Earth to prevent hostile forces from gaining a foothold through other gates. With skill and luck, they will eventually be offered tasks through the gate to other realms as explorers.
(PC)(2nd Level Fast Hero)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 11 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 11 | 11 |
(PC)(2nd Level Strong Hero)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 18 | 12 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 8 |
Joseph Anderson grew up in downtown New York. Joseph didn't have the perfect life growing up. He couldn't, with all the gangs reigning over the city. No stranger to violence, Joseph was constantly getting into fights with street thugs. He had good intentions, always fighting the uncanny bullies who fought the weak and innocent.
His parents, Constance and Alex, were tired of their son getting into fights with street ruffians. Alex, having had prior experience on the streets, couldn't let his son live on like this. He and his wife signed him up for the Marines. Joseph found his way to the Marines Bootcamp on Parris Island, South Carolina.
Joseph was furious that he was being shipped off to the Marines because he protected his friends and those who didn't deserve to be pushed around. Things got worse for Joseph. In bootcamp, he had troubles with his commanding officers. Once, a Drill Sergeant ordered him to do 250 pushups because he woke up two minutes late. He knocked the Drill Sergeant out with one punch. He was removed from the program and sentenced to 7 years in a Military Prison. While in prison, he was visited by a shady figure. The man presented Joseph with an enticing proposition. He could get Joseph out of the center, only if Joseph would work for some underground society that supposedly defended our planet. Joseph signed on with the society and is now working on an assignment in Central Africa.
Joseph has trained long and hard to perfect his skills with the S&W Pistol and the Uzi. His greatest desire is to be in the midst of war and gun down fifty foes or more foes to serve the Society.
(Written by Robert Hand, ©2003)
(NPC)(3rd Level Dedicated Hero/1st Level Field Medic)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 12 |
Julia Cavanaugh grew up in a Long Island suburb of New York City to first generation Irish immigrants. Her mother died in childbirth, leaving her father, Sean Cavanaugh, to raise her as an only child. Her father worked for the New York City Fire Department and died several years ago fighting a blaze in a converted warehouse in Manhattan's garment district. She has no relatives in the United States but has several cousins living in and around Cashel, Ireland.
While studying medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, she was recruited by the Society. She worked several missions in Cambodia and Laos as a medic and recently finished the special force's combat medic course. Her current assignment is to provide front-line medical support to operations in Africa.
Reluctant to take life, she caries a Glock 17 pistol and uses it only when directly threatened.