Step One

Read the Rules

Get acquainted with the rules. The Quick Start details playable species and example builds. The Core Rulebook lays out the rest, including rules for combat, magic, boffer construction, and everything else you'll need to play. Our Chapter Policies lay out our rules for maintaining a safe experience and a healthy community, as well as some of our chapter-specific rules and mechanics.

• Quick Start
• Core Rulebook
• Chapter Policies

Step Two

Learn About Our Campaigns

Our chapter hosts two ongoing campaigns to play in, though characters created for one setting may travel between worlds through the mysterious Shadow Ways to visit another (so you can play the same character in both if you like). Read up on our settings below.

• The Fifth Age
• Enerret

Step Three

Create Your Character

Once you have a few ideas about the character you'd like to play, run them by our story team and player community on Discord for advice on building them out and integrating them into a campaign. Once you're feeling confident, you can build your character in the Refuge DB, or experiment with builds in the Freeplay DB.

• Discord
• Refuge DB
• Freeplay DB

Step Four

Attend a Game

We host events roughly once a month including both day games and weekenders. Join us!

• Upcoming Games

Alternatively

Volunteer

If you want to jump in and learn about the world, the community, and the settings as you go, you can attend as a Cast and Crew member for free. It's a great way to feel things out for yourself without the commitment of building a character.

The Kingdom of Anquila

Founded by war-hardened veterans and survivors, the nascent kingdom of Anquila is a melting pot of people from different cultures and walks of life. Anquilans are resilient folk, unshakable and no strangers to hardship. Scarcity and close quarters during the fight to reclaim the world led to the development of a cross-cultural tongue known as Resolang, as well as a dependency on high-yielding mushrooms as an agricultural staple. These are a point of local pride, even if there are very polarized opinions on the national dish. Close quarters seem to be on peoples’ minds, as more and more spirits are resurrected at the Earth Circles every day. The population has started to boom, and most are hard at work establishing their new land, building homes and working farmland to support the rising numbers.Anquila sits in the southern end of the Great Valley, on the eastern bank of the river Sevaladen. The capital city has been rebuilt atop the ruins of the city of Andekullar, which was granted to King Darve and those that follow him by the Anavari of Mithloras at the end of the Void War.

The Kingdom of Mithloras

Mithloras is the kingdom of the Anavari — the Elves that dwell on the surface of Eotamul. With a history dating back to long before the war, theirs is a culture that takes pride in the pursuit of elegance, formality, and peace. The Mithloran monarchy and what remains of its noble houses are beginning the slow process of reconstruction of their once sprawling civilization. The road back to how things were will be a long one — exacting beauty from a world reborn in violence is no small task.Today, the livable world is centered on the Great Valley and the lands to the east. Working closely with neighbors has proven crucial to everyone’s recovery, and as such Mithloras shares the valley with Anquila to the south.

The Vales

Not formally attached to any kingdom, the Vales are places in nature that carry strong magical power and significance. These areas are home to the laid back, yet lethal Syladren of Eotamul, as well as a number of the land’s Dryads. Vales take a great deal of magic and effort to establish, and they were some of the only places on the world’s surface that could be made safe during the war. Having a place where one could look up and see the sky without being struck down was a major source of morale during the fighting. One such Vale, the Vale of Love, became the heart of the Anquilan Barony of Amoran.

The Horde

The nomadic clades of Kyn that roam Eotamul are collectively known as The Horde. Before the world ended, these groups were known for raiding settlements, as well as each other, to supplement their resources for trade or to compensate during times of hardship. Now that the lands to the west are next to barren and few settlements remain, their way of life is challenged as never before. Some clades have begun to break with tradition and attempt to make permanent settlements of their own around the Great Valley, causing a rift among the ranks of the Horde.Some few hopeful settlers from among their number have reached out to Anquila, creating new opportunities for cultural exchange and collaboration. Clades are tightly-knit familial groups that care for the collective before the individual, and they carry a large deal of respect for their keepers of oral history, the Storytellers.

The Vaeltari

The subterranean cave networks of the Vaeltari span much of Eotamul. During the great war, they provided a vital shelter from raging elemental forces and enemy eyes. The Dark Elves’ secluded and obfuscated cities protected the majority of the last survivors of the continent until the end of the final battles. Once it was safe again, those who were not Vaeltari moved up to the surface, founding Anquila and sparking the reconstruction of Mithloras.A reserved and capable people, the Vaeltari are often accomplished fighters and scouts. The Empress Suenesast served as a leader and General for the masses, before her abdication and the crowning of her successor, Empress Divrena. The Vaeltari have since retreated deeper underground, and it is hard to say where they may be now.

The Kingdom of Tharros

Tharros is the primary setting for the campaign. Known as the melting pot of Enerret, Tharros’s diversity and willingness to engage in complex negotiations to accommodate cultural differences has allowed them to grow beyond the wildest imaginings of their original constituent cultures. Enabled by a central location, Tharros has become a hub of trade and innovation. While a source of great strength, Tharros’ active trade in goods and ideas engenders deep suspicion among other nations wary of a source of cultural, rather than military conquest. Tharros is bordered by the Tian Empire to the north, Sylvarus to the south, and The Caius Dominion to the east and southwest.

The Caius Dominion

The Caius Dominion spans the Continent's two great mountain ranges and vast underground. The Dominion is a group of four cultures that banded together in an uneasy truce for mutual protection; the Avani, the Dwarven Clans, the Deep Orcs, and the Chimerrius. These different cultures often fight amongst themselves, leading to an opaque and seemingly chaotic state of affairs to outsiders. A complex web of marriages and financial bonds form the glue which holds the Dominion together. It borders the eastern and southern edges of Tharros as well as the northern edge of Sylvarus and western edge of The Wilds.

The Kingdom of Sylvarus

The Kingdom of Sylvarus is an isolationist culture which values the lives of the individual trees making up its vast forests and jungles as much as the lives of its more mobile citizens. Sylvarus has always been ruled by The Queen, an individual said to be older than the forest itself. Sylvarans concern themselves with three things; the protection of their land from exploitation by outsiders, keeping their place in the proper organization of all living things, and maintaining their compact with the Fae who seem to particularly favor the wild corners of their land.

The Tian Empire

The Empire of the Far West is ruled by an Emperor who supposedly is a direct representative of the Mythic Beast known as the First Dragon. These lands are focused on the role of the individual, and as an extension, the larger group, in creating a perfectly ordered and harmonious whole. There is a place for everything in Tian so long as it acts within its assigned role, and does not upset the ordained balance of all things as enumerated by the Ancient Texts and the interpretations recorded by the lineage of Emperors.

The Wilds

East of the Caius Dominion are The Wilds, a name given to the expansive territory between the mountains and the eastern sea by outsiders. Several cultures exist within these lands. The Manti are a nomadic people. While their homeland is amongst the grasses and hills of the western savannah, the Golden Sea, they travel across the continent seeking incursions from The Realms Beyond, and destroying them. The Children of Crocoetta are an amorphous gathering of canine derived species who all claim descent from Crocoetta, The Mother of Monsters. The Children of Crocoetta roam across the east, from sea to mountains, with no respect for borders. They take what they need, and move on. The Children are afforded a unique place amongst the cultures of the east. Seen as more a force of nature than a nation of people, the Children are resisted, but never targeted for reprisal or extermination. The Principalities of Tarjis are a fractious conglomeration of city states and fiefdoms, strung along the eastern coast of Enerret. They were formerly a united nation, but with the death of the royal family they have splintered.

Harrowfel

Recently recovered from the dark mists of the Tenebrous, the island of Harrowfel and much of its surrounding archipelago has been claimed by the Wayfarers as their original homeland. The Wayfarers are a culture made primarily of Stellarean, but embraces all people who feel the call to roam and willingness to take arms against the Dark Mist and Aphotic who dwell within it. The archipelago is new enough it does not appear on any maps. Expeditions to map and explore this new region have been mounted by the governments of Tharros, Tian, Sylvarus, and the Caius Dominion as well as other parties.

Core Policies

Before attending your first game, you'll want to make sure you meet the requirements and agree to our code of conduct.

• Code of Conduct
• Covid Policy
• Prohibited Items
• Age Requirements
• Conduct Concerns & Play Eligibility

Legal

You'll be required to sign the following waiver before playing your first game.

• Refuge SF Liability Waiver

Safety Tools

Here are some of the tools we use to ensure our game is safe and fun for all players.

• Safe Place Statement & Safety Tools
• Physical and Romantic RP Policy
• Leadership Agreement

Mechanics

If you’re interested in engaging with the game more deeply, check out the following local chapter specific (LCS) rules.

• Volunteer Compensation Policy
• LCS Rules and Effects
• LCS Item Policy
• LCS Chapter Point Purchase List
• Species Phys Reps FAQ
• Discord Text RP Rules and Guidelines