21+, RP Heavy, LGTBQ+, PST, 1 DM & 1 player looking for 3 more, Wed 7pm - 10:30pm weekly, optional PC death, A Marmalade Ballad

Name of Campaign: A Marmalade Ballad

Game: D&D 5e
Technologies: Discord for voice chat, Discord Avrae bot for dice rolling with DnD Beyond integration, DnD Beyond for character sheets, and Owlbear Rodeo for battlemaps/tokens/sharing music
Group type: Online
Experience: I DMed a few years, player is quite new
Timezone: PST
Schedule: We play weekly every Wednesday at 7pm and we end at about 10:30pm. DM may take a 1 or 2 week mental health break every 4 sessions ran.
Roles sought: We’re a group of 1 DM (27M) and 1 player (24M) looking to start a new campaign with 3 more players for a long-term 4 player campaign. Campaign mainly on discord.
Game style: Roleplay heavy, lots of interpersonal character social interaction dealing with character development and bonding, personal drama, and relationship drama, plenty of room for goofy, silly social interactions, a fair amount of dealing with problems caused by monsters or fighting monsters, and some slice-of life
Tone: Balanced between serious drama and goofy dumb shenanigans
If I had to give a movie rating: PG-13

3 Pillars of DnD Play. 60% social roleplay/30% combat/10% exploration. Our campaign feels more like an improv storytelling experience, not really much of a traditional combat game with a focus on gamey mechanics or wargamey gameplay. There's also not as much of a focus on adventuring as a more traditional/typical DnD campaign would have.

We’ll start at level 1 and end at level 7. The campaign is around 50 sessions long, so about a year’s worth of real-time play. The narrative is slow-paced to allow room for exploring character, character development, and to build emotional investment. 

Disclaimer: I have ADHD and that may have its own challenges like forgetfulness, trouble keeping track of what’s happening at times, attention/focus issues, etc. - If you’re not comfortable with these sort of things, then this game is not for you.

Campaign Setting

It's a homebrew setting in an urban city that is a mish-mash of high fantasy with modern New York City-like aesthetics (elves playing piano in city square with Mage Hand, hot dog stands, guns, skyscrapers, arcane-powered cars, etc.). Whole campaign takes place entirely in the Downtime District of the city, The Bedlam. Heavily inspired by the anime series Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront and JRPGs such as Final Fantasy XV. The world leans more towards a fantastical vibe, less of a realistic vibe despite the modern influences.

Premise

You were a regular person once, but no longer. After making Three Mistakes that propelled you towards the lowest point of your life. A mysterious hooded man approached you at your lowest point, and offered you power. The power of a Ballad. As a Ballad, you are one of the few who can slay the Deep Blue Monsters that occasionally threaten the Downtime District of The Bedlam. Successfully killing these powerful monsters will grant Deep Blue, an extremely rare magical object that can be said to alleviate many problems, including you being able to redeem your Three Mistakes. Can you do all of this while living your daily life, constantly dealing with the reminders and drama of your past mistakes? Or will you fail and suffer the consequences? Only one way to find out.

Featured in this Campaign

Character-driven story. The majority of the storytelling is driven and centered on the player characters. As DM, I play a more reactive role with most of my prep revolving around creating hooks and situations that involve your PC’s backstory, background, and personal dealings into the campaign. There's a great focus on character development, less of a focus on moving the plot along or constantly pushing to solve the next problem. The characters have a lot of control over where the story goes, and a lot of the story has personal connections to the characters.

Three Mistakes. Your character has made three significant mistakes that have impacted people they deeply cared for. You’ll be dealing with various problems and others who’ll remind you of what you’ve done. Both serious, emotional moments and goofy, silly moments can arise from this.

High-Octane Boss Fights. The Deep Blue monsters are powerful creatures and entities that threaten the world. On rooftops, the side of a skyscraper, on trains going at dangerous speeds, the vast city streets, etc. Your fight against these monsters take place in bombastic, action-packed situations.

Interpersonal Roleplay. A lot of game time is devoted to characters dealing with drama or the comedy between each other or developing/exploring character. Sadness and laughter go hand-in-hand at times in this story.

Milestone leveling. You’ll level up at narratively appropriate points in the story.

Slice of Life. We’ll have sessions taking place at festivals, in sports stadiums, at the beach, a bbq cookout on a rooftop of an apartment complex, celebrating a character’s birthday party, etc. A chance for characters to have fun, relax, and bond

Custom Death Rules. Makes death an option you can choose to take, your character can stay alive in the story at the cost of consequences that affect your character dramatically. Death is no longer the most immediate consequence in fights. Narrative consequences and stakes are what you have to lose for the most part. Places more focus on dramatic storytelling.

Custom Inspiration System. Optionally if you choose to, your character can incur emotional conditions that make certain skills harder to use at the benefit of rewards later once you’ve cleared these conditions via roleplay.

Heavy Anime Vibes. As DM I’m heavily influenced by anime and JRPGs like Final Fantasy, and that’ll be reflected in the storytelling. Sudden tone shifts from serious to comedic, melodramatic scene setting (example: "As the wind whips across your hair, as the leaves fall around you in this field of bright white flowers, painting a beautiful picture of sorrow, yet joy. What do you say to your friend turned enemy?").

Preferences for Players I’m Looking For

RPG Experience. Not an issue. Honestly. We are prepared to take total novices as long as they're enthusiastic and eager to learn.

Role-Play. I'd like this campaign to tell an interesting story we care about, and so I want players that are willing and able to role-play. You don't have to be a Thespian or voice-actor. Again, enthusiasm and interest matters more than experience here.

Team Player. You treat D&D as a collaborative thing. It's not DM vs players. It's not player vs player. We work together to make a story.

Nice Person. You must generally be a nice person, kind, and respectful of others in the group.

Players whose ages are 21+

LGBTQ+ friendly. This is an inclusive and safe space for people of all orientations and backgrounds. I do not tolerate bigotry and hate.

Your Application

1. Preferred Name
2. Preferred Gender Pronouns
3. Age
4. Experience with DND
5. What do you look forward to when playing DND?
6. What kind of character concept or archetype do you have in mind? (basic ideas only, paragraph or 2 at most)
7. What’s your opinion on roleplaying goofy, silly interactions? Serious, emotional moments and scenes?
8. Fun Question: What’s the closest thing to real magic?

You can post your application here or send me a message here on D&D Beyond containing your application. You can also send the application and ask questions at Mere#2605 on discord.

Once players are chosen, we’ll hold a session 0 meeting with the entire group on the next available Wednesday at 7pm PST to go over social ground rules, go over what the campaign is like in more depth, and character creation. Session 0 may last about 3 hours. Keep in mind that if you don’t make it to session 0, you will not be considered for the group.

It may take a day or two, to a few days, to a week (or more) for me to decide on the players for the group, thank you for your patience during this process.