This is the recruitment thread for a campaign in a homebrew setting, "A Simple Request"
The Kingdom of Cambria has long dominated naval trade along the coast of the Amethyst Ocean to the west. A massive hub for trade and culture, it is said that whether you are desperate or enterprising, Cambria has ought for you. If you are looking for something, chances are it will pass through Cambria. If it doesn't, word of it will. And if someone is looking for you, you will find it is quite easy to disappear and become someone else in the crowded streets of Talmouth, Cambria's capital city.
However, naval passage into Cambria has grown more and more expensive over the last several years, and land routes are few and far between. The Shield Mountains form Cambria's natural border, arcing from the coast to the north to the coast in the south, and there are few who would risk the branching trails of the Shield Pass through the mountains, especially this late in the year.
Nevertheless, our adventure begins with four such folk, be they brave or desperate, seeking solace or opportunity, who make their respective ways through the pass and find themselves at the base of the mountains facing "Opportunity's Knock," a simple inn at a fork in the road. And in exchange for room and board for the night, the innkeeper makes of the four a simple request.
Thank you for checking out this campaign. I have modest experience DMing in DnD 5e and GURPS, though this is my first time DMing a 5e play by post.
The campaign itself will be relatively short, but is also written with the capacity to expand into a long-term campaign, should enough players wish to continue.
The Players:
The party will be comprised of four players
Players who use out-of-the-box thinking to solve problems and encounters are welcome. I love rewarding player cleverness with something interesting, whether they succeed or fail.
Players should be reasonably confident that they can commit to the short campaign with regular posting.
That being said, I am alright with a slower posting rate, especially on the weekends. I'm busy, you're busy, everyone is busy. If you can post at least once a day, great. If sometimes you have a packed week, that's fine. If you can, let me know ahead of time if you'll be slower or absent for a bit, or check in from time to time in the OOC thread just so we know you are still there. When possible, I may work in an in-game reason that your character isn't engaged in the same activity as the rest of the party, so you don't have to worry as much about slowing the game down. I want to be flexible with everyone.
You can also feel free to post as much as you want, especially for between-character roleplay
LGBTQ+ characters and players are welcome
Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, sexual violence, etc. are not a normalized part of my setting.
The Characters:
Characters start at level three with basic equipment.
All official 5e content is fine. I will enable content sharing in the campaign, so you can have access to some character options you may not otherwise have.
As mentioned, the setting is homebrewed, and I am leaving it largely open at the beginning, besides Cambria. This is to give you plenty of freedom with your character backgrounds. (religions, orders, kingdoms, enemies, cultures). The world will shape itself from there.
Your characters are fairly normal people at the beginning, so I am less concerned with their past than I am with the stories of their present and future. Backstories can be as deep or as simple as you like, but your character should have defined personality characteristics for the narrative to play into. For example:
Motivations
Fears
Personality traits
Insecurities
Whatever your characters traits, just ensure they allow for being in a group.
Characters can have some silliness to them, so long as they also have enough depth for narrative weight
Anything you aren't sure about, talk to me and find an accommodation. The game is about fun.
Respond to this post with your character concept.
Name
Class/subclass
Race
Stats (Use the ability scores dice roller in your post. Reroll 1's once)
Brief backstory and/or defining characteristics (in a spoiler block).
If you want to include a longer backstory, private message me.
Gameplay:
Mostly theatre of mind, though some maps may be included.
There will be an in-character and out-of-character thread
If you want to try something and you think it might need a skill check, make the check you think is appropriate in a spoiler block. I will decide if I need a skill check and what the DC will be before opening the tag.
Many checks will have degrees of success.
Failures may often result in something interesting too, whether good, bad, or neutral.
Descriptiveness is your friend. When you are trying to do something, describing how you do it may lower the DC. For example:
Tying a rope to a rock and climbing down a cliff may be tricky. If your character knots the rope first, the task becomes pretty easy, even for a weakling.
Charisma checks on NPCs will often be harder or easier based on what specific things your character says. Make a compelling enough lie in-character, and you are a lot more likely to succeed in a deception check.
Optional/Homebrew Rules:
I will be making use of inspiration
Flanking rules are in place
When grappling a creature, you can use a reaction to impose disadvantage on an attack roll or saving throw (including concentration saving throws)
In addition to AC, some creatures may have flat Damage reduction (DR) to certain kinds of damage
Nat 20s and Nat 1s on ability checks will usually be automatic success or failures respectively, so long as the task is possible for your character. They will also often yield special results
There will likely be other homebrew rules that come up as we go, but unless I explain it ahead of time we will go by RAW.
I look forward to seeing your character submissions! I will PM the four chosen party members, and post a thank you in this thread for everyone else once the selection is complete. If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to ask!
I like the intro and the thought you put into the gameplay section. Work in progress... Note: on the 2nd 13 (4th ability score overall), if you hover, you can see I asked it to only re-roll 1s once, but it looks like it re-rolled 1s twice. I can adjust down if you like. Per your post below - I'm good dropping one of the 13s to a 9 - let's do it. Using: 13 11 16 9 14 12. AH: further edited to add, ok I see your point further down about re-rolling all 1s once. So I'll keep it at 13 11 16 13 14 12.
Name:Joren Kryn (link to character sheet) Class: Fighter (Echo Knight) Race: Custom Lineage (half-dwarf) Backstory and Defining Characteristics:
Exiled noble bastard son, trained as a Echo Knight in faraway land of Xhorhas.
Team player and takes orders as trained in military but...
Chafes under overbearing authority and rules he considers arbitrary (leading to his exile).
Has wanderlust and loves exploring. Drawn especially to mountains, perhaps due to half-dwarven descent.
Longs to find his father, a dwarven sorcerer from a faraway clan, often thought to be somewhat barbaric, though his father was apparently a charmer. Much more so than Joren himself.
Good hearted but not particularly honorable.
Sometimes too trusting of new acquaintances.
Considers himself fiercely independent but secretly always afraid of making wrong choices now that he has no military structure guiding him.
Suffers self-recrimination (though usually only well after the fact).
Pointing that out is a pretty integrity move. I'll honestly leave it to you. If you think your character would be more interesting with a glaring stat weakness, you can drop the 13 to a 9. But if you think you'd have more fun with the higher number, then I'm fine with you keeping it.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ability scores: 13161711811
Will edit later with character idea
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
When do you want finished character ideas? Might not be able to finish untill monday; will try earlier. if it is to late no problem
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"grandpa" Salkur, deep gnome artificer/sorcerer: Spiderwrangler's Forged in Chaos | Pepin, Human Artificer/cleric: Goblin horde | Mixtli, Volcano Genasi Artificer: Champions of the Citadel
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Going to edit with some more detail soon
Character Details: Name - Sess'ak Class - Twilight Domain Cleric Race - Naga (from Plane Shift) Stats: Ability scores: 161415141312 Backstory:
Sess'ak is from a small tribe of Yuan-Ti located far south, in the wild lands of the tropical jungle. Sess'ak left home to look for a power that could restore their mighty Guardian Tree back to its old self after a mysterious blight began to plague it. Measures have been put in place that manage the blight, but she fears by the time she returns it'll be too late to save it. Perhaps after saving the tree she could use her newfound skills to heal other blighted areas.
Sess'ak is calm and cool, preferring a path of least resistance, until she's backed into a corner and must fight. Words will wash over her, lest they be questioning her ability to save the Guardian Tree. She has a fascination with the sea and navigation by stars, despite her discomfort of the watery embrace of death it offers so readily.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Hail and well met, stranger! In need of an artisan to document fantastic beasts and charismatic persons? Toss me a coin and I'll get to work!
I like the intro and the thought you put into the gameplay section. Work in progress... Note: on the 2nd 13 (4th ability score overall), if you hover, you can see I asked it to only re-roll 1s once, but it looks like it re-rolled 1s twice. I can adjust down if you like.
Now this sounds exciting! Love a setting by the ocean, and to start at a pun inn? Ha!
Rolling away...
Ability scores: 13151414915
weird, mine did the reroll one's more than once as well? weird - you can see I chose once, not always.
Oh, you know what it is? It rerolls 1s once per die. So if you rolled all 1s, it would reroll all of them once. If one of the rerolls was also a one, then it would stay (unless it got dropped for being the lowest).
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Vilus Trappen
Goliath
Warlock (patron tbd)
Ability scores:151416101713
Backstory; sent in PM
motivations, to succeed in everything, to be the very best he can possibly be, and insisting on the validation of everyone around him and his patron.
fears and insecurities, that he will fail his organisation, his father, his (plot relevant) friends and his patron.. essentially failing to live up to the ridiculously high expectations he has set for himself. he is insecure about his own feelings of worthlessness and imposter syndrome, because of this he likes to also look his best all of the time, but is somewhat easy to cow when questioned about his integrity or worth.
traits, despite this gloomy outlook, Vilus is not a depressing person to be around, his striving to succeed means he tries to make himself as likeable as possible and he tries to fit into groups where he can both shine as an active and useful member with necessary skills, but also one who works well and efficiently with others, he fights with passion and without mercy and he has a learned hatred for upper-class and elite socialites who he sees as the oppressors of his people, the ravagers of the undercity.
I have never done this before but I am very interested. Not sure if you have 4 already but if you are willing to show me the ropes a little I am happy to play!
Go ahead and post your character idea if you want! I am going to leave the thread open for submissions for at least several days and then I'll select from the available options to create the party based on who I think will be the best fit!
I will ask of course, are you new to D&D 5e in general, or just play by post?
Naval routes are just too expensive... probably hard to get papers, too. Sounds like a well-naturally-secured Kingdom trying to insulate itself from the outside. So who is poor, but desperate enough, to want to get over the pass into Cambria? Let's see what kind of story the dice tell...
Ability scores: 171312141312
I'll edit later with a character idea. Intriguing setup, thanks for sharing!
Already thinking of the socio-political implications. Love to see it, haha!
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Interesting premise and you sound like a delightful DM!
Ability scores: 121613151316
Name: Kalil the Outcast
Class/subclass: Drakewarden Ranger
Race: Wood Elf
Brief backstory:
Kalil originates from a region composed primarily of forests. This region is home to large insects, sentient plant life, and predacious, magical birds. It is also where Kalil's tribe calls home. Living in such a large forest, the creation and use of fire is a forbidden taboo. As a substitute, Kalil's tribe uses a special species of fireflies that can generate light and large amounts of heat.
One day while out hunting, Kalil fell into a deep cavern. While trapped in this cavern, Kalil came across a lake of pure wild magic. Unaware of what it was, Kalil drank from the lake and fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he found himself bound by rope and his village in flames. The villagers berated him for bringing a beast of flames to their tribe. Kalil claimed he had no idea what was going on, but as he pleaded his case a surge of wild magic erupted from his mouth and shifted into a fire drake. With clear evidence of his guilt, Kalil was exiled from the forests.
All his life, his tribe and the forest was all he knew, but now he was banished from it. Kalil knew little of the outside world, but was tipped off that if he needed a second start, Cambria was the place to go.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Hi interesting setting: I would like to put a placeholder here if you don't mind. Warforged are allowed? just one of the ideas in my mind...
Question.
Name:
Class/subclass:
Race:
Stats: Ability scores: 101812121711
Brief backstory and/or defining characteristics (in a spoiler block).
Edit: I swear to the Dice Gods that first time I posted this rolls where 16 16 14 13 12 12 ( not in this order but... ) And then it refreshed and the dice were others. I don't even edited it yet! lol
This is the recruitment thread for a campaign in a homebrew setting, "A Simple Request"
The Kingdom of Cambria has long dominated naval trade along the coast of the Amethyst Ocean to the west. A massive hub for trade and culture, it is said that whether you are desperate or enterprising, Cambria has ought for you. If you are looking for something, chances are it will pass through Cambria. If it doesn't, word of it will. And if someone is looking for you, you will find it is quite easy to disappear and become someone else in the crowded streets of Talmouth, Cambria's capital city.
However, naval passage into Cambria has grown more and more expensive over the last several years, and land routes are few and far between. The Shield Mountains form Cambria's natural border, arcing from the coast to the north to the coast in the south, and there are few who would risk the branching trails of the Shield Pass through the mountains, especially this late in the year.
Nevertheless, our adventure begins with four such folk, be they brave or desperate, seeking solace or opportunity, who make their respective ways through the pass and find themselves at the base of the mountains facing "Opportunity's Knock," a simple inn at a fork in the road. And in exchange for room and board for the night, the innkeeper makes of the four a simple request.
Thank you for checking out this campaign. I have modest experience DMing in DnD 5e and GURPS, though this is my first time DMing a 5e play by post.
The campaign itself will be relatively short, but is also written with the capacity to expand into a long-term campaign, should enough players wish to continue.
The Players:
The Characters:
Gameplay:
Optional/Homebrew Rules:
I look forward to seeing your character submissions! I will PM the four chosen party members, and post a thank you in this thread for everyone else once the selection is complete. If you have any other questions, do not hesitate to ask!
Ability scores: 14 14 18 15 13 16
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
I like the intro and the thought you put into the gameplay section. Work in progress...
Note: on the 2nd 13 (4th ability score overall), if you hover, you can see I asked it to only re-roll 1s once, but it looks like it re-rolled 1s twice. I can adjust down if you like. Per your post below - I'm good dropping one of the 13s to a 9 - let's do it.
Using: 13 11 16 9 14 12.AH: further edited to add, ok I see your point further down about re-rolling all 1s once. So I'll keep it at 13 11 16 13 14 12.
Name: Joren Kryn (link to character sheet)
Class: Fighter (Echo Knight)
Race: Custom Lineage (half-dwarf)
Backstory and Defining Characteristics:
Mud(Paladin2):Frandal's Scourge/Inge(Barbarian1):Krayveneer's After the Fall/Seri(Cleric1/Sorcerer1):Uhtred's Windward Isles/Shin(Wizard2):Dimir_MTG's Surviving
Dyson/Eleo(Cleric3):Vos' Beyond the Veil/Soren(Druid4):Bartjeebus' Ravenloft/Nivi(Rogue3):Raiketsu's CoS/Lyra(Warlock2/Bard2):BlameItOnWinter's Will of the Ancients
Joren(Fighter5):NotDrizzt's Simple Request/Quyen(Adept1):Constance's Nentir Vale/Rel(Warlock2):Uhtred's Phandelver/Xarian(Fighter1/Wizard1):ShieldHero's Drakkenheim
Pointing that out is a pretty integrity move. I'll honestly leave it to you. If you think your character would be more interesting with a glaring stat weakness, you can drop the 13 to a 9. But if you think you'd have more fun with the higher number, then I'm fine with you keeping it.
Ability scores: 13 16 17 11 8 11
Will edit later with character idea
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
Ability scores: 13 12 11 15 14 13
I'll edit later with a character
I will protect those I hate. Even ... even if the one I hate most ... is ... myself.
Ability scores: 18 9 7 16 11 17
When do you want finished character ideas? Might not be able to finish untill monday; will try earlier. if it is to late no problem
"grandpa" Salkur, deep gnome artificer/sorcerer: Spiderwrangler's Forged in Chaos | Pepin, Human Artificer/cleric: Goblin horde | Mixtli, Volcano Genasi Artificer: Champions of the Citadel
I am going to playing the recruitment phase by ear, but Monday is definitely fine. I don't want to rush anyone's character creation process!
Now this sounds exciting! Love a setting by the ocean, and to start at a pun inn? Ha!
Rolling away...
Ability scores: 13 15 14 14 9 15
Name - Ashley Moon
Class - Sorcerer (Divine Soul)
Race - Fire Genasi
Backstory - WIP
Going to edit with some more detail soon
Character Details:
Name - Sess'ak
Class - Twilight Domain Cleric
Race - Naga (from Plane Shift)
Stats: Ability scores: 16 14 15 14 13 12
Backstory:
Sess'ak is from a small tribe of Yuan-Ti located far south, in the wild lands of the tropical jungle. Sess'ak left home to look for a power that could restore their mighty Guardian Tree back to its old self after a mysterious blight began to plague it. Measures have been put in place that manage the blight, but she fears by the time she returns it'll be too late to save it. Perhaps after saving the tree she could use her newfound skills to heal other blighted areas.
Sess'ak is calm and cool, preferring a path of least resistance, until she's backed into a corner and must fight. Words will wash over her, lest they be questioning her ability to save the Guardian Tree. She has a fascination with the sea and navigation by stars, despite her discomfort of the watery embrace of death it offers so readily.
Hail and well met, stranger! In need of an artisan to document fantastic beasts and charismatic persons? Toss me a coin and I'll get to work!
weird, mine did the reroll one's more than once as well? weird - you can see I chose once, not always.
Oh, you know what it is? It rerolls 1s once per die. So if you rolled all 1s, it would reroll all of them once. If one of the rerolls was also a one, then it would stay (unless it got dropped for being the lowest).
Ah! well I'm glad to know, thanks!
Vilus Trappen
Goliath
Warlock (patron tbd)
Ability scores: 15 14 16 10 17 13
Backstory; sent in PM
motivations, to succeed in everything, to be the very best he can possibly be, and insisting on the validation of everyone around him and his patron.
fears and insecurities, that he will fail his organisation, his father, his (plot relevant) friends and his patron.. essentially failing to live up to the ridiculously high expectations he has set for himself. he is insecure about his own feelings of worthlessness and imposter syndrome, because of this he likes to also look his best all of the time, but is somewhat easy to cow when questioned about his integrity or worth.
traits, despite this gloomy outlook, Vilus is not a depressing person to be around, his striving to succeed means he tries to make himself as likeable as possible and he tries to fit into groups where he can both shine as an active and useful member with necessary skills, but also one who works well and efficiently with others, he fights with passion and without mercy and he has a learned hatred for upper-class and elite socialites who he sees as the oppressors of his people, the ravagers of the undercity.
Travin Tiller, Junk Dweller Bard, AURYN.
The Ironmaiden, Questionable Artificer, Descent into Avernus.
DM, Peacekeepers of Northmorrah
I have never done this before but I am very interested. Not sure if you have 4 already but if you are willing to show me the ropes a little I am happy to play!
Go ahead and post your character idea if you want! I am going to leave the thread open for submissions for at least several days and then I'll select from the available options to create the party based on who I think will be the best fit!
I will ask of course, are you new to D&D 5e in general, or just play by post?
Withdrawn.
Already thinking of the socio-political implications. Love to see it, haha!
Interesting premise and you sound like a delightful DM!
Ability scores: 12 16 13 15 13 16
Kalil originates from a region composed primarily of forests. This region is home to large insects, sentient plant life, and predacious, magical birds. It is also where Kalil's tribe calls home. Living in such a large forest, the creation and use of fire is a forbidden taboo. As a substitute, Kalil's tribe uses a special species of fireflies that can generate light and large amounts of heat.
One day while out hunting, Kalil fell into a deep cavern. While trapped in this cavern, Kalil came across a lake of pure wild magic. Unaware of what it was, Kalil drank from the lake and fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke, he found himself bound by rope and his village in flames. The villagers berated him for bringing a beast of flames to their tribe. Kalil claimed he had no idea what was going on, but as he pleaded his case a surge of wild magic erupted from his mouth and shifted into a fire drake. With clear evidence of his guilt, Kalil was exiled from the forests.
All his life, his tribe and the forest was all he knew, but now he was banished from it. Kalil knew little of the outside world, but was tipped off that if he needed a second start, Cambria was the place to go.
Ro Aleron (Ro the Red) -> Illithid, Wizard 8 (Chronugist) // AURYN
Hi interesting setting: I would like to put a placeholder here if you don't mind. Warforged are allowed? just one of the ideas in my mind...
Question.
Edit: I swear to the Dice Gods that first time I posted this rolls where 16 16 14 13 12 12 ( not in this order but... ) And then it refreshed and the dice were others. I don't even edited it yet! lol
PbP Character: A few ;)