I was dealing with some issues with Imgur.com, they had data breach so was doing some security things on my end. But I have been delaying it for long enough. I believe this thread dead, mostly due to my fault for lack of consistent updates and being too lenient on posting for others. Along with the extra large combat maps and theme of it, made it too complex to keep up with it myself.
I do wish to offer those that are still in the campaign an alternative.
Instead of a homebrewed campaign like this, I'll be willing to run one of the following adventures.
Princes of Apocalypse
Storm King's Thunder
Waterdeep Dragon Heist
One shots from (Tales from the Yawning Portal, Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, and Keys from the Golden Vault.)
Whichever you all choose, then I'll offer the Way of Play, which is Hardcore or Rule of Cool
Hardcore makes the bosses harder, implements injuries, and more thoughtful tactics from enemies. In exchange, easier to gain inspiration, able to stack inspiration, access to homebrewed item that can influence both character stats, gameplay, and possibly more.
Rule of Cool, Will mostly follow as book goes but willing to listen to any improvisation or tactics the player or party wishes to do. Will be trying to be more descriptive during combat and more flavorful during NPC interaction.
Will add that I will enable content sharing for the campaign as well.
I'm sorry to hear that—I genuinely enjoyed the style and challenge of your game. The campaign presented us with tough, exciting situations and a real risk of failure, which I personally find very engaging.
I completely understand and respect your decision to shift toward something simpler and less demanding to manage. As for the options you've presented, I'm currently already playing Dragon Heist, and even though it offers some variation, I'd prefer not to repeat it.
In my view, option 4 (the collection of one-shot modules) would likely be the most practical choice, given they're designed explicitly to be easier to prep, quick to run, and clearly structured—perfectly aligning with your desire for reduced complexity. I'd be happy joining any of these adventures.
As much as I would personally enjoy playing through Princes of the Apocalypse or Storm King's Thunder, these campaigns are inherently semi-sandbox experiences with large exploration components, and thus could potentially require even more prep or improvisation than your previous homebrew. Given what you've described as your main concerns, these might not fully address the workload issue.
In short, I'd enthusiastically join either Princes of the Apocalypse or Storm King's Thunder, but option 4 seems (to me) best aligned with your stated preferences and goals.
I would like to add that I can also share content if there is any adventure that you as DM would like to run but don't have access to.
I’m also up for the same modules cyreon listed. I’ll play a hardcore version although I’m very jaded against the whole injuries critical hits doing wired stuff beyond Hp damage. Too many year playing 1e and 2e versions where DM’s love to devise critical hit tables. The net net is we get criticaled about 5% of time and instead of dealing with the adventure we now have to deviate to reattach someone’s hand. Got old and frustrating quickly. Are we using these characters and assuming they made it out of this arena or starting fresh ?
Apologies, I did not want my offer to be constrained to only those adventures. As means of compensation, I am willing to DM for you all, so I shall be open to suggestions. I mainly wanted to give a proposal while also avoiding ones that I am actively in. To list,
DM, for Acquisitions Incorporated.
DM, for Descent into Avernus
Player, in Tyranny of Dragons
While I am a player in one, I do not wish to spoil myself by reading ahead.
And most of the adventures have a set structure and some direction. I'm not too worried about the sand box portion of the adventures. As I am just to narrate the location and whatever NPCs you may encounter. The most I can do is give motivation to go to the starting area, whatever happens next is up to you all.
And for characters, feel free to use the ones you've already or make a new one. I wish to leave the choice open incase the adventure is set in a different setting, for example, Eberron, Theros, Tal'Dorei, or Dragonlance
First off, I want to be clear that I do not believe that you owe us anything. I will, however, happily join any campaign that you would like to DM.
I'm open to all of the ones you suggested (barring Dragon Heist). Additionally, I would bring forward that I would also enjoy the Dragonlance campaign or Icewind Dale (and a number of others). Specifically, I would also jump immediately on a Theros campaign (I actually have the physical book from the kickstarter which has a few additional subclasses that didn't make it to DDB) but I know that there no actual campaigns contained in it, just guidelines how to prepare one.
Hmm, for Mad Mage, it starts at level 5. We can do the one shots from Yawning Portal to level up to 5 then start Mad Mage. Mad Mage lets you go back and forth from the Yawning Portal so it can supplement itself with side quests if any level proves to be too difficult. Will warn that it shall be XP based then rather than milestone, but will modify to best suit to 2024's revisions.
If you all are fine with this proposal, then I just have to ask if you feel that your party would be enough? If not, then I can open a recruitment thread for it.
I'm fine with this. I think I would continue with Khazela. You could ask first the players who line up for the second arena, not sure if they are still active. In total, I think we should be at least four active players.
Then there was still the question about which mode. Would you consider to dial down on the hardcore? I really would like if the enemies are fierce and intelligent and I don't care for injuries (or not) and it seems a critical point for CalaQuendi.
Hardcore makes the bosses harder, implements injuries, and more thoughtful tactics from enemies. In exchange, easier to gain inspiration, able to stack inspiration, access to homebrewed item that can influence both character stats, gameplay, and possibly more.
Rule of Cool, Will mostly follow as book goes but willing to listen to any improvisation or tactics the player or party wishes to do. Will be trying to be more descriptive during combat and more flavorful during NPC interaction.
Cyreon. I can play with the injuries if that is what the group wants. Just don’t like them. Kinda like tracking rations and arrows. I can support having to do that type of accounting just takes some of the fun out of it
I should explain that injuries only occur when falling to 0 HP. There is also the Shock mechanic but it only occurs when one takes more than or equal to half of their HP in one hit. And I don't believe the second arena thread is active as they have failed to join the campaign to even start it.
Cyreon. I can play with the injuries if that is what the group wants. Just don’t like them. Kinda like tracking rations and arrows. I can support having to do that type of accounting just takes some of the fun out of it
Checking to see if you are still interested. The campaign is available to join in the previous post and recruitment shall be done in a day. Thus making the campaign starting the day after.
Absolutely! Can’t wait to get started. Any adjustments needed for the characters? I suppose we will be able to upgrade equipment to the normal starting set?
The imp is blocking me as I only have 1 Hp and no way to heal
(bump - it's been a week...)
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
Charlotte has not replied in months - she has been auto run... so lets do that...
I was dealing with some issues with Imgur.com, they had data breach so was doing some security things on my end. But I have been delaying it for long enough. I believe this thread dead, mostly due to my fault for lack of consistent updates and being too lenient on posting for others. Along with the extra large combat maps and theme of it, made it too complex to keep up with it myself.
I do wish to offer those that are still in the campaign an alternative.
Instead of a homebrewed campaign like this, I'll be willing to run one of the following adventures.
Whichever you all choose, then I'll offer the Way of Play, which is Hardcore or Rule of Cool
Hardcore makes the bosses harder, implements injuries, and more thoughtful tactics from enemies. In exchange, easier to gain inspiration, able to stack inspiration, access to homebrewed item that can influence both character stats, gameplay, and possibly more.
Rule of Cool, Will mostly follow as book goes but willing to listen to any improvisation or tactics the player or party wishes to do. Will be trying to be more descriptive during combat and more flavorful during NPC interaction.
Will add that I will enable content sharing for the campaign as well.
I'm sorry to hear that—I genuinely enjoyed the style and challenge of your game. The campaign presented us with tough, exciting situations and a real risk of failure, which I personally find very engaging.
I completely understand and respect your decision to shift toward something simpler and less demanding to manage. As for the options you've presented, I'm currently already playing Dragon Heist, and even though it offers some variation, I'd prefer not to repeat it.
In my view, option 4 (the collection of one-shot modules) would likely be the most practical choice, given they're designed explicitly to be easier to prep, quick to run, and clearly structured—perfectly aligning with your desire for reduced complexity. I'd be happy joining any of these adventures.
As much as I would personally enjoy playing through Princes of the Apocalypse or Storm King's Thunder, these campaigns are inherently semi-sandbox experiences with large exploration components, and thus could potentially require even more prep or improvisation than your previous homebrew. Given what you've described as your main concerns, these might not fully address the workload issue.
In short, I'd enthusiastically join either Princes of the Apocalypse or Storm King's Thunder, but option 4 seems (to me) best aligned with your stated preferences and goals.
I would like to add that I can also share content if there is any adventure that you as DM would like to run but don't have access to.
Lastly, in any game, I prefer your hardcore mode.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
I’m also up for the same modules cyreon listed.
I’ll play a hardcore version although I’m very jaded against the whole injuries critical hits doing wired stuff beyond Hp damage. Too many year playing 1e and 2e versions where DM’s love to devise critical hit tables. The net net is we get criticaled about 5% of time and instead of dealing with the adventure we now have to deviate to reattach someone’s hand. Got old and frustrating quickly.
Are we using these characters and assuming they made it out of this arena or starting fresh ?
Real life takes a toll. Hang in there, you can only do the best you can do.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Apologies, I did not want my offer to be constrained to only those adventures. As means of compensation, I am willing to DM for you all, so I shall be open to suggestions. I mainly wanted to give a proposal while also avoiding ones that I am actively in. To list,
While I am a player in one, I do not wish to spoil myself by reading ahead.
And most of the adventures have a set structure and some direction. I'm not too worried about the sand box portion of the adventures. As I am just to narrate the location and whatever NPCs you may encounter. The most I can do is give motivation to go to the starting area, whatever happens next is up to you all.
And for characters, feel free to use the ones you've already or make a new one. I wish to leave the choice open incase the adventure is set in a different setting, for example, Eberron, Theros, Tal'Dorei, or Dragonlance
First off, I want to be clear that I do not believe that you owe us anything. I will, however, happily join any campaign that you would like to DM.
I'm open to all of the ones you suggested (barring Dragon Heist). Additionally, I would bring forward that I would also enjoy the Dragonlance campaign or Icewind Dale (and a number of others). Specifically, I would also jump immediately on a Theros campaign (I actually have the physical book from the kickstarter which has a few additional subclasses that didn't make it to DDB) but I know that there no actual campaigns contained in it, just guidelines how to prepare one.
Ok, I'd say my preference would be:
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
I could play either. (And also agree you don’t ow us anything. Appreciate the willingness to run something.)
what about mad mage? Always wanted to do that to level 20
Mad Mage would be ok for me too. Sounds like a very traditional dungeon crawl.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
Hmm, for Mad Mage, it starts at level 5. We can do the one shots from Yawning Portal to level up to 5 then start Mad Mage. Mad Mage lets you go back and forth from the Yawning Portal so it can supplement itself with side quests if any level proves to be too difficult. Will warn that it shall be XP based then rather than milestone, but will modify to best suit to 2024's revisions.
If you all are fine with this proposal, then I just have to ask if you feel that your party would be enough? If not, then I can open a recruitment thread for it.
I'm fine with this. I think I would continue with Khazela. You could ask first the players who line up for the second arena, not sure if they are still active. In total, I think we should be at least four active players.
Then there was still the question about which mode. Would you consider to dial down on the hardcore? I really would like if the enemies are fierce and intelligent and I don't care for injuries (or not) and it seems a critical point for CalaQuendi.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
Cyreon. I can play with the injuries if that is what the group wants. Just don’t like them. Kinda like tracking rations and arrows. I can support having to do that type of accounting just takes some of the fun out of it
I should explain that injuries only occur when falling to 0 HP. There is also the Shock mechanic but it only occurs when one takes more than or equal to half of their HP in one hit. And I don't believe the second arena thread is active as they have failed to join the campaign to even start it.
Mostly, I'm interested in the more thoughtful tactics part. I'm fine with any of the rest but I can also do without.
It looks like we would be too few, then. So if you really want to go through with it, @Virst, I think we would do better with a few more people.
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
Very well, I shall put up a recruitment thread later for the party. For now, I'll set the link to join the campaign here.
Yawning Portal
Checking to see if you are still interested. The campaign is available to join in the previous post and recruitment shall be done in a day. Thus making the campaign starting the day after.
Absolutely! Can’t wait to get started. Any adjustments needed for the characters? I suppose we will be able to upgrade equipment to the normal starting set?
|| Oriace - Halfling Bard - Dragon Heist || Valerian - Elf Rogue - Wildnis || b'Reh - Stig Cleric - Humblewood || Rowan - Halfling Giant - Runewarren || Khazela - Spiritfarer Dervish - Tribute || Arista - Frost Sorcerer - Old Keep || Zephirah - Demonic Bard - Sands || Merry - Gifted Surgeon - Short || Marasatra - Blood Mage - Avernus || Lan - Dwarf Dragon - Wuxian ||
Need to add char to this campaign how are we creating characters, or are we simply using the arena ones?