Background

A rift occurred in history, dividing our universe from that of Toronto Crawl Classics. The year was 1974. The incident was the publication of Dungeons & Dragons in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In our world, millions benefited from a harmless, and often educational, hobby. In the world of Toronto Crawl Classics, though, Jack Chick was right – the game released real magic into the world, and it was not altogether benign.

Some say that the burst of technology which followed was keyed to that magic. Some say that great occult powers seeking to bargain with humanity aided researchers seeking to understand the remains of a crash in New Mexico. Whatever the truth may be, the Toronto That Was knew technologies we do not, in part resembling the future glimpsed in 80s cartoons, with robots, energy weapons, and other devices, some of which still function.

The cataclysm came with a great display in the heavens. The world shook. Buildings fell. Stars reeled in their courses. Many people simply…disappeared, never to be seen again. Creatures from mythology, nightmare, and storybooks began to appear. It was as though the boundary between the real world and the human collective unconsciousness momentarily dissolved, allowing things to seep through.

That was over two centuries ago. The campaign begins in the Common Year 105 PC (Post Cataclysm), sometimes known as 2220 AD based on the calendars of the Ancients. The great technologies of the past are a memory. Magic is real. Gods involve themselves in worldly affairs. And, as always, people have adapted.