In a campaign from a long time ago we had the Cross World Inn. The inn gave us a place to store characters when we weren’t playing with them. It allowed us to have characters trade equipment and information across games, but most importantly it gave us a convenient way to store characters when we rotated GMs, which we did fairly often.

I took that idea and the idea of the White Lodge from the tv series Twin Peaks and started to sprinkle the White Lodge into various games and campaigns I was playing in at the time. What follows will be the combining of all of the various notes (some whole paragraphs and others quick mentions) I have of the White Lodge. This will be a combining of a lot of different stuff and not a chronology. At the end, I will talk about how I plan on incorporating the White Lodge into my solo games and why I would.

The White Lodge

Essentially the White Lodge is a loosely affiliated and secret organization whose mission is to bring light to the world. It is both an idea and a location which stands for the power of good and strives to protect those who are weaker. This organization believes that knowledge should be protected but also widely shared. They are currently working to gather the knowledge of different dimensions and times into one grand library open to all.

The actual physical building of the lodge is in an extradimensional space. It has a large common area with a bar. In that area there is usually a black cat with green eyes, named Mo Wonder.  There is also a large painting of an anthropomorphized pug wearing a general’s uniform from the Neapolanic times.

The lodge has rooms for 20+ people. Each individual room has the unique feel of the character who resides there. There is a well-manicured garden, which has a number of stone portals that can be used to travel to other worlds. The lighting throughout the lodge is warm and ambient from candles and lanterns.

The entire thing has a magical/science fiction vibe. It is a blend of a number of different architectural and decor styles. There is at least one tower connected to the lodge. The entire thing is surprisingly cozy. It is called many different things to many different people and appears in many different shapes.

Every dimension has a Defender of the White Lodge who can call the Lodge to them, but in doing so they are taking it away from someone else who might be in need of it. So the Defender of the Lodge is always hesitant to call it forth and will only do so in the greatest time of need.

Alruccabah

Alruccabah was an entity I created for a warlock I was playing. The warlock spent a lot of his time proselytizing for Alruccabah and toward that end created a pamphlet which he passed out to anyone who would listen. What follows is the contents of that pamphlet with some other tidbits thrown in.

Before the current counting of time, Alruccabah was a scholar at a place of knowledge, called The White Lodge. As is often the case in a world of darkness, The White Lodge was seen as a light for good. People traveled from foreign lands to study at the Lodge. Alruccbah, one of the founders of the White Lodge, quickly took on the role of teacher. He didn’t mind sharing his knowledge but his true passion was exploring and learning. He knew that there was more in the world than what could be found in a book and as such took to exploring the world at any chance he could.

His mother died during childbirth so Alruccabah was raised by his father. His father, whose name has been lost to time, was largely absent and made it clear to Alruccabah that knowledge and understanding was more important than anything else, including one’s own son. Therefore, Alruccabah spent his childhood raised in libraries, museums, and other homes of knowledge. There is little else known about Alruccabah’s childhood. Legend has it that it was during this time that he was introduced to the White Lodge.

When Alruccabah was a child his civilization was in decline. The hordes of the darkness were overtaking the forces of light. Alruccabah struggled throughout his life against this darkness.

There are many wondrous artifacts attributed to Alruccabah, some of which he discovered and others he created. From weapons and armor to the truly wondrous Bag of Alruccabah, which contains a book. This book provides the reader a new story collected or written by Alruccabah. While some people think the book is for teaching, others know that it is truly a gift of entertainment from Alruccabah.

When Alruccabah entered the White Lodge for the first time, the construction of the lodge had just been completed. The nature of the lodge still wasn’t known and the power it would later have hadn’t been discovered. It was only with Alruccabah’s knowledge, guidance, and power that the White Lodge became what it is today. He was the one who gave the White Lodge the edict to protect against the darkness.

The White Lodge of Ghazaria

One of my previous campaigns took place in a world called Ghazaria. So I have a few little bits of information about the lodge from that game. There were two different Defenders of the White Lodge who came up in that game. First was Bealdgar, the Defender. He was a Defender of the White Lodge and as such he was charged with observing and reporting impartially.

Second was Rand Helmworth, a Defender of the White Lodge and as such was working to stop Phythys (an evil god)throughout the realm. Rand invited Dotan (one of the PCs from that game) to become a Defender of the White Lodge, which is where the campaign ended for that character.

The Future

To be honest, I’m not totally sure how I’m going to continue to use the White Lodge moving forward. One thought I had was having my various solo PCs end up there at some point far into their lives, maybe as a place to retire or as a place to launch from for other campaigns. Another thought I had is that it might be a fun way to use the same character and character concept in different systems. I might start in Ironsworn but go to the White Lodge, change the character over to an OSE character and take off on another adventure.

What about you? How would you use it? And do you have any similar ones that have been sprinkled in various games but never really fleshed out too much?