Game: D&D 5e (blend homebrew and module)

Group type: Online - turn based email.

Experience: Open to all experience levels, I (DM) have been playing 2e & 5e for more than a decade. I've run a handful of games in the past 5 years.

Location: I'm in the Central Time Zone USA. One of the players is in the Eastern time zone USA.

Schedule: Planning for a turn based email game. Play as your available, but I'm hoping each player will post 2 or more times a week.

Roles sought: Looking for an additional 2-3 players. Currently have 2 players.

Game Style: Looking for casual players in a wilderness survival themed setting.

Additional information: Full disclosure: one of the players I already have is currently an inmate. 

Game (world) intro:

As best as can be discerned an unknown event occurred around twenty years ago. That event, whatever it was, is known now as 'The Purge'. Almost all memory of a time before this event is lost. Those still alive now that were alive before the Purge, speak of waking with the feeling that they had forgotten something. Most of these individuals still struggle with that sensation of fighting to remember something that feels so important. These individuals are known as elders; a name most of them despise. Most elders believe that the Purge wasn't a random accident. They speak of it like a disembodied horror that had a mind of it's own. Ask any elder and they will explain, 'Whatever we lost in the time of the Void before the Purge has a definite pattern." Its as though the Purge targeted only conscious memories. It had no authority over instinct, and limited effect on learned skills. It also targeted specific physical world objects. All paper ever made, had been whipped clean. It was as if the Purge didn't want people to remember who they were or how far they had fallen. People could remember that they had lived in a stationary dwelling, but not which one was theirs. You could look at a person and know if you trusted or despised them; but not why, and it didn't work on everyone you saw. One of the stranger quirk about the Purges, one that left many people feeling unsettled, was the absence of the moon. In the moon's place is a multihued nebula of debris. 

In the years after the Purge, after memories were taken. The people of the world began to fall apart. The second stage of the purge occurred as the bulk of the world's population starved. How was it that people during the Void had managed to survive in vast wastelands where very little grew that could be eaten? it was learned that the few that smartly ventured away from the wastes, had no knowledge of how to acquire food for themselves. However some of the people who did make it out of the wastes found the skills they did have, had great value. With everything that was lost, memories, families, and even the names of the gods. The Purge left in its wake very little that could be viewed positively. The most common of these gifts, arrived in the form of a unified language. Opinions differ but perhaps important than that unified language, the people learned their true name. The name branded upon their soul. Give this name to another and they forever hold sway over the course of your life. Loose this name, and loose yourself becoming a haunted husk of a person tortured to seek it out.

The way of life has changed in the past twenty years. People rarely settle in a single place anymore. There is safety in numbers but danger in masses. New foul creatures hunt the landscape. These creatures are somehow drawn to large congregations of people. Most tribes and clans numbering a few hundred survive only by staying mobile. There are a few exceptions: the Druids, the Wasteland Raiders, the Magi Senate, and the Trade Federation. These groups hold enough power to secure the safety of the people in their charge.

The Druids protect their lands, and in return the land protects them. While it is generally accepted that about a dozen individuals hold the highest power in Druid lands. They seldom assemble, and do not hold themselves above any of the inhabitants. If you don't know the customs and culture in Druid lands, it is unwise to blunder in without a guide.

There are only two things one can expect to find in the wasteland ruins. Danger and Fortune. For while they hold a bounty of long forgotten treasures, they are home to vast legions of orcs, goblins, and other covetous creatures. Safety is a relative term in the wasteland, for while its denizens hold back even fouler enemies through military strength. Any intruder caught in their territories will be treated the same, hunted.

The Magi Senate offers safety to anyone who can afford it. The Senate itself is an assembly of the nine most powerful arcane practitioners. Arcana has become a new economy, for those who are not overburdened with the labor of merely surviving.

The Trade Federation is the youngest of these super powers. Its found a unique balance between the other three factions. It started out with a small group that dared to enter the wastes, paid to retrieve what ever they could for a member of the Magi Senate. They are the common starting ground for anyone looking for a life greater than that of avoiding starvation.

 The majority of people who survived the Purge and the fallout after, are humans and those most similar. While there is always tension when meeting someone new; especially in the wilds. It helps when you have some idea of the other person's disposition. Humans, dwarves, elves, demi-giants, gnomes, halflings, and the half breeds between angels and devils; are all typically well natured. Of course there are always some bad apples. 

Meeting a beast folk can be unsettling and some people harbor prejudices against them, but beast folk aren't often Raiders. Beast folk often hail from Druid lands and can be a mix of most any wildlife. There are bird folk like the Aarakocra or Kenku. There are also reptilian races and mammalian races that round out this group.

Most Wasteland Raiders consist of bugbears, goblin kin, kobolds, and orcs. Being born into one of these races almost guarantees a life of violence. Stumbling across one of these races in the world rarely ends without violence. There have been rumors that the Trade Federation has a small population that serve as guards for their caravans. Or maybe they raided a caravan and stole some uniforms. Most people shoot first and never bother to ask questions, or are bothered to answer questions.

Then there are unique races, most of them blend in with others and go unnoticed. Perhaps the Purge wasn't as kind to these folks. What ever the reason most people have never heard of people in this category; and are regarded as fairy tale.

Most survivors of the Purge have had to learn to fend for themselves. The easiest way to do that is to pick up a weapon and swing it around till you convince others to not attack you. There are of course other methods, but they are rarer. There are very few true druids, a presumed limited number of warlock contracts, and most clerics have chosen a life of solitude. Rarest and most policed are arcane users. Use of arcane magic within Senate lands without a license will result in swift and harsh punishment. First offenders count themselves fortunate if they only suffer a punishment of branding.

Game play:

After consideration I've decided to run the game based on initiative. I'm doing this because one of the players in on a restricted access email. I will have to copy and send my summaries as well as everyone's responses to them separately. I'm hoping this will reduce the amount of time line confusion for everyone. It should also reduce how often multiple players try to do or say the same thing. If you get the highest initiative and want more time to think about your response please reply with either 'Pass' or "Hold till after player x". I think it will be fair if when someone posts their action and someone else was thinking the same thing, they can quickly email 'Assist" and I'll assume that those players are engaged in that activity (rolling skill checks 'with assistance' as appropriate). At the end of each summary, in and out of combat, I will include the initiative order. Example of initiative to follow.

Player 1: 21

Player 2: 19

Restricted player: 17

Player 4: 4

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Character Creation:

I'm doing a homebrew style of character creation. I want each player to start by rolling 3d6 (getting a number 3-18) With this score you will be able to purchase options for your character's creation. Option categories include: Stat generation methods, Race selection, Class selection, and starting equipment bonuses. In addition to these categories you have the choice to either roll hit points each level, or take the average hit points for that class. I have a google spreadsheet that outlines these options and will share that link during character creation. I would prefer to do character creation together via Zoom. I'm typically available in the evenings (Central Time USA) during the week, or I can arrange my schedule during the weekend.