I’m preparing to launch one of two roleplay-forward, longform D&D 5e campaigns, both set in carefully built original homebrew worlds. These aren’t one-shots or casual dungeon romps. They’re meant to be multi-arc campaigns, slow-burning and immersive, with a deep investment in character arcs, faction dynamics, and how personal decisions ripple through a living world.
Each setting offers a different tone, structure, and thematic focus—but both ask for players who want to build a story together, not just react to one.
Before I finalize casting and campaign materials, I’d love to hear your thoughts:
Which of these two campaigns would you rather play in (or read/watch unfold)?
Please respond with your preference—and feel free to share why.
———————————————————————————————
The Reckoning of Realms
Genre: Gritty Low Fantasy
Tone: Grounded, mythic, politically tense
Inspired by: Dragon Age, The Witcher, The Spellmonger Series
Setting Overview:
The world of Valmireth is old and ordered. The gods are real, and their temples are full. The realm of Narassil—eight duchies bound by ancient compacts—has held peace through law, divine concord, and magical restraint.
But in the borderlands of Kaer Draith, that peace is thinning. War drums echo in the highlands. Orcish warbands gather with strange discipline. Graveyards are disturbed with reverent care. A Collegium inquisitor is missing. And old names, long buried, are being whispered again.
Magic is not forbidden, but it is not free. It is watched. Licensed. Bound in oath and writ by the Collegium Arcanum. Spellcasters walk a narrow line—welcomed in service, feared in shadow.
The gods still speak. Temples thrive.
But magic is watched, and those who wield it walk a line between service and suspicion.
You are not a chosen one. There is no prophecy.
But the choices you make will move armies, break houses, and shape the realm to come—if you live long enough to matter.
In the land of Varnheim, the stars are gone, the gods are forbidden, and faith is a memory. The world is ruled by the Authority—a steel-blooded power that brands heretics, erases history, and tears miracles apart in factories.
The world has been remade: magic is outlawed, religion criminalized, memory compartmentalized and censored. Ten districts remain, each shaped by the industrial machine—forge-cities, glacial ruins, hollowed cathedrals, and drowned fey courts beneath the ice.
Yet something moves beneath the surface. A stirring in the smoke, in the silence, in the dreams no one dares speak aloud. Some call it madness. Others say the gods are dreaming still—and that they remember who betrayed them.
Magic is outlawed. Worship is a crime. The gods are said to be dead.
But something ancient stirs beneath the rails, and it remembers what the world tried to forget.
This is not a story of heroes. Not yet. But it is a story of resistance—of miracles hidden in ash, of saints waiting in shadow, of memory clawing its way back to light.
———————————————————————————————
I’d Love to Hear From You
Which campaign speaks to you more? Which one would you want to play in—or see brought to life?
Reply below with your preference and thoughts.
I’ll use this input to determine which world we begin with and open up applications when the time comes.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing what kind of story we build together.
I like The Reckoning of Realms, the fact Magic is licensed but not quite outlawed adds the possibility of using Magic but having every spell you cast held under a level of scrutiny.
As sketched out here, nothing grabs me. I want more details about the types of adventures we will go on. Are we pirates, are we jungle explorers, are we solving a mystery, are we rebels fighting against the empire. I think most players don't really latch on the the broad details of the setting but want to know what their characters are going to be doing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I’m preparing to launch one of two roleplay-forward, longform D&D 5e campaigns, both set in carefully built original homebrew worlds. These aren’t one-shots or casual dungeon romps. They’re meant to be multi-arc campaigns, slow-burning and immersive, with a deep investment in character arcs, faction dynamics, and how personal decisions ripple through a living world.
Each setting offers a different tone, structure, and thematic focus—but both ask for players who want to build a story together, not just react to one.
Before I finalize casting and campaign materials, I’d love to hear your thoughts:
Which of these two campaigns would you rather play in (or read/watch unfold)?
Please respond with your preference—and feel free to share why.
———————————————————————————————
The Reckoning of Realms
Genre: Gritty Low Fantasy
Tone: Grounded, mythic, politically tense
Inspired by: Dragon Age, The Witcher, The Spellmonger Series
Setting Overview:
The world of Valmireth is old and ordered. The gods are real, and their temples are full. The realm of Narassil—eight duchies bound by ancient compacts—has held peace through law, divine concord, and magical restraint.
But in the borderlands of Kaer Draith, that peace is thinning. War drums echo in the highlands. Orcish warbands gather with strange discipline. Graveyards are disturbed with reverent care. A Collegium inquisitor is missing. And old names, long buried, are being whispered again.
Magic is not forbidden, but it is not free. It is watched. Licensed. Bound in oath and writ by the Collegium Arcanum. Spellcasters walk a narrow line—welcomed in service, feared in shadow.
The gods still speak. Temples thrive.
But magic is watched, and those who wield it walk a line between service and suspicion.
You are not a chosen one. There is no prophecy.
But the choices you make will move armies, break houses, and shape the realm to come—if you live long enough to matter.
———————————————————————————————
Dominia: The Song Beneath the Smok
Genre: Arcane Dystopia
Tone: Mythic resistance, suppression, fractured memory
Inspired by: Dishonored, Scythe, Nier Automata
Setting Overview:
In the land of Varnheim, the stars are gone, the gods are forbidden, and faith is a memory. The world is ruled by the Authority—a steel-blooded power that brands heretics, erases history, and tears miracles apart in factories.
The world has been remade: magic is outlawed, religion criminalized, memory compartmentalized and censored. Ten districts remain, each shaped by the industrial machine—forge-cities, glacial ruins, hollowed cathedrals, and drowned fey courts beneath the ice.
Yet something moves beneath the surface. A stirring in the smoke, in the silence, in the dreams no one dares speak aloud. Some call it madness. Others say the gods are dreaming still—and that they remember who betrayed them.
Magic is outlawed. Worship is a crime. The gods are said to be dead.
But something ancient stirs beneath the rails, and it remembers what the world tried to forget.
This is not a story of heroes. Not yet. But it is a story of resistance—of miracles hidden in ash, of saints waiting in shadow, of memory clawing its way back to light.
———————————————————————————————
I’d Love to Hear From You
Which campaign speaks to you more? Which one would you want to play in—or see brought to life?
Reply below with your preference and thoughts.
I’ll use this input to determine which world we begin with and open up applications when the time comes.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing what kind of story we build together.
I like The Reckoning of Realms, the fact Magic is licensed but not quite outlawed adds the possibility of using Magic but having every spell you cast held under a level of scrutiny.
Of the two (if I were to play low magic campaigns, which i don't), the first one since it is restricted and not banned. I go for high magic campaigns.
Food, Scifi/fantasy, anime, DND 5E and OSR geek.
Of the two, The Reckoning of Realms sounds more promising to me for a particularly long campaign.
As sketched out here, nothing grabs me. I want more details about the types of adventures we will go on. Are we pirates, are we jungle explorers, are we solving a mystery, are we rebels fighting against the empire. I think most players don't really latch on the the broad details of the setting but want to know what their characters are going to be doing.