(If you've no interest in reading this short (but also long) world building story, please skip to the bottom of the italics and just read after "Elsewhere"  for game info :))

When Harkal Mah, laughing Lord of Yelhigh stands to challenge High King Darin Westwyn to a friendly duel at the feast of the world his grace gladly accepted. Nobody, man or woman had dared challenge his prowess in combat for years and he yearned for a good fight again. The last war had been fought when he was but a boy, and as a man he'd only been able to show his skills at Tourneys. A talented warrior with a knack for showmanship and the perfect occasion for such displays of skill made it an easy choice for the man. A space infront of the King's grand table was cleared and guards created an impromptu arena for the men to battle in. As every Lord and Lady low and high in Sutherhol looked on in wonder, King Darin chose the broadsword, Lord Mah a pair of Yelhighen daggers.

"Weaponry blunted to the point of uselessness, the perfect tools to give a Lord a fair but non-lethal thrashing!" King Darin yelled to his friend across the arena.

"Then I must have renounced my Lordship your grace!" Mah shouted back.

The onlookers laughed, afterall Harkal Mah was a funny man.

"Well by all means renounce Yelhigh and give it to me. You've finer wine, brighter suns and prettier girls than we have here in Goldsreach!"

King Darin looked back to his Queen and blew her a kiss as she looked on dissaprovingly, turning it into a small grin as she reluctantly caught it. The crowd laughed again. It was a hot day, but the ale was cool. It was a day of celebration and the wine matched the occasion. It was a day to be remembered, and the food was exquisite. If you were important, you were enjoying it all.

The King took his stance and and moved slowly towards his opponent. Harkal Mah was renowned for being lightning fast and Darin had to adjust accordingly or he'd be beaten in seconds. His Golden armour, beaming from the reflection of the sun would give him adequate protection from body shots from daggers he thought. It's his face he'd need to worry about. As he raised his guard he explained

"You see the thing about the fast, agile fighters" thrusting his blade towards Harkal Mah in a flurry of firm attacks "despite all the neat little tricks and arguably nicer armour" He continued to attack, holding out his sword in such a way that as Harkal Mah predicted his attacks he moved to avoid the next and ended up in the path of the blade, brusing up his armour and putting a small cut on his face "Well a wise man once said I can hold out my blade and let you do the work for me"

The crowd cheered and laughed, and nobody was more entertained than Harkal Mah. The King lowered his blade and stepped back, reaffirming a defensive stance. He'd given up his tactic for a laugh from the crowd and needed a new plan. Harkal Mah spun his knives over his fingers, dancing acrobatics for the spectators as he prepared to attack. The High Elf also knew how to work a crowd thought Darin.

"But you see my good friend"

"I don't believe that's my proper title!"

"But you see my KING" The crowd chuckled once more. "Once you learn the plans of a man in heavy armour the fight is already won!"

He charged in with the speed and force of a Lord's horse, decimating the King's defence and battering his beautiful armour... and arms. Darin moved away, clearly having underestimated his opponents skills, a style of fighting he was not used too; but Harkal Mah gave him no respite. He continued to shred the King's defence, tearing away at the limited armour he wore on his arms and turning it to ribbons. The crowd's cheery background noise had slowly turned to that of unknowing in how to react to what they were witnessing. This was meant to be a friendly duel afterall.

It was warm under the King's sleeve now. And the warmth began to creep down his swordarm. It grew weak and tired, feeble in it's attempts to hold up a steel blade. Darin let out a welp of pain, but the laughing lord did not slow down. As he wailed on him the guards put their hands to their swords. And then he continued to wail on him and the guards withdrew their swords. And once the King screamed in agony "I Yield!" the guards moved in. The captain of the guard, Irinim Drew ordered Lord Harkal to stop, the laughing lord responded by punching King Darin in the jaw, knocking out a tooth and cutting his cheek with the edge of the blade. The blood from his mouth hit the floor mere moments before the King himself did. Two guards grabbed Harkal by the arms as Irinim questioned what he'd seen.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he asked "By who's right do you lay waste to the ancient rules of combat and lay an angered hand to your King?"

"Well..." Harkal spoke slowly "By my own"

At this very moment two men stood from House Mah's table, directly behind the arena. As Harkal began to laugh manically the two men slit the throats of the guards who restrained their lord and the rest of their table stood, drawing weapons and coming to Harkal's side. And then behind them, the table of House Marstik stood and joined them, and then Houses Bovern and Curstan. A boom followed as 50 soldiers burst through the grand wooden doors and drove their way towards the end of the huge walled balcony the feast was being held on.

"Captain Irinim you've served the realm with grace, honour and devine martial skill for over 20 years. Be seated, or lose your life" Harkal calmly informed him.

"I will not take orders from a..." The Captain's speech was hastily interupted from the ground as a wounded Darin exclaimed through a broken voice "Irin for ****s sake sit down" The captain obeyed his King's orders.

Harkal stepped up onto the elevated stone of the King's table and addressed the tens still seated.

"For too long we have strolled and trotted our way easily through life under this man's rule! The peasants work half as hard for twice the pay, the soldiers train and raid bandits endlessly when there is a whole country across the sea in need of conquering that hasn't even discovered us yet! That is land for all of you and all of your people! More holds and castles which I know is all any of you want anyway. Yet this so called ruler refuses to intefere with their way of life. Well no more! That land is as good as ours if we have the balls to take it, so I say take it! I don't want to kill anymore people today, especially my fellow lords. But if you dare oppose me and my banners, well I'm afraid we've no choice."

The crowd began to murmur. It was a mixture of expressions and emotions. Some frightened, some anxious, some nod in agreement while others look away in disgust. King Darin forces himself to his feet with his weathered arms. It is clear the laughing lord's blades were not blunted. And the cuts had begun to burn.

"Lord Harkal spare them if they oppose you on this day. Spare them and allow them time to come around to your way of thinking and I swear to you I shall renounce my crown the very next moment"

The old Lord Fourtmyre stands to speak from his table, drawing his sword as he does so.

"Besides you there stands the King which my fealty is pledged too. And the one to which I am loyal, as I have been for years. The one who I will be loyal too until the day he or I leaves this world. And then to his heir, and theirs. And their heir and.."

"Yes yes my lord it's a very noble speech you give, however funny you should mention the King's death" As he says this the remainder of the King's guard stand directly infront of their King and Irinim rises.

"You'll have to strike down every last one of us before you reach him"

"No. I won't" Harkal laughs once more as from behind his formidable wall of guards, the King begins to cough, and cough. Then the coughing turns to choking and wretching. As he begins to spit out his own blood his queen attempts to rush to his side, held back by her father.

The wall of guards turn to watch as the life of their King drains before their very eyes, providing the 50 soldiers ample opportunity to take them out with spears, plunging them into the chests of the honourable men.

"But I'll kill you all anyway" he chuckles to himself.

Irinim is left standing.

"Last chance old man"

The captain draws his sword, followed by the unseathing of a weapon by every other warrior; lord, lady or otherwise, on the balcony. As they eye each other up, attempting to work out who's alleigance is where a silence takes over the once glorious feast. One second turns to one minute. And the bells of 4 great towers toll...

Elsewhere

In the capital of Goldsreach, you enjoy a relatively good ale. The day is hot and you've accomplished your reason for being here. As you stroll through the town centre with a smile on your face you hear the tolling of the four bells. That's odd you think. Four bells. That marks the death of a King or a Queen in this city. Surely a mistake you suppose. King Darin is young and in good health, as is Queen Alysane. The smile returns to your face as you continue your stroll. Then you hear... screams. And then metal, followed by the thunderous boom of a hundred boots marching in perfect harmony. A harmony which then scatters. A harmony which turns a corner into the town square and begins to strike down countless innocent men and women. Spellcasters set stores alight and thousands of people turn into a rough sea of red waves crashing into one and other and causing chaos. You ready yourself for action and...

INFO

Hello there. I am a working actor and whilst FAR from the A-list, I shall remain nameless so you don't pull up my imdb and look at all the crap films I've been in! Joking aside, my performances were good (I promise). That's why I make a good RP DM! You can just call me DM. I have been playing DnD for two years now, more or less exclusively DMing in numerous campaigns and having two as a player. I have loved every minute and even got some cast mates into it as a downtime thing on set. What I'm getting at is I have good experience, and fully voiced characters whom I love each of. Especially the villains. Always the villains. I can't tell you what every spell is and exactly what it does off the top of my head, but I can run a damn good story for you.

As you can tell, I love Game of Thrones and AWOIAF (I may have even appeared in an episode and said a thing or two once) and this world is very much inspired by it and it's themes of betrayal, family, loyalty so on and so on as I'm sure you could tell if you read my intro! But it is my story, my characters, my events and locations. It's High Fantasy Game of Thrones best described. If that sounds appealing to you, you will love this game. I decided it best to not have a pre-determined questline or anything for you to go on but instead to create the world and have things happen in it and then release you into it and build stories and encounters around you and your party. They may be huge scale involving lords and userpers or they may be small, involving shopkeeps and sneaky bandit organisations. Or both. Who knows?! Your character is living and breathing and can do what they want (within reason!)

I like to run games that are heavy on story, so if you're looking to kill a boss, get some loot and exp and come back the next week to do it again then this isn't for you. There will be plenty of combat, but also downtime. It isn't all RP all the time, but I love player characters to form real relationships, whether good or bad, and to interact with my own characters as their character would. You don't NEED to do a voice but I do encourage it as it's fun! If you don't love your character and love to be them for a few hours then my table isn't the right one for you! If that is what you like however, you'll find you very much this world. So bare that in mind when pitching your character, you need some backstory. They need to have a lived a whole life before the game begins so that you can connect with them as you play! Character is the core of my table.

The games will be run via Discord and Roll20 since I hate the other one. I am decent with Roll20, but no artist. However it is an incredibly useful tool and good way to provide a visual to combine with your imagination. I'm looking at either 5 or 6 people per party as well.

TIMES AND DAYS (AND PRICES... SORRY)

So that's the big sad. And I'm super sorry if this means you can't join the campaign, however there is a good reason. I know what you're thinking "Why does it have to be paid, don't actors get millions of dollars and live in massive houses?" You're right. In a way. Stars, actors who draw people to a film simply by being in it (Tom Cruise, RDJ, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt). They get the millions because they make millions for the film. Me, I am no starring man. Sure I'd like to be one day but right now I am cast as supporting characters in small films and as minor characters in big stuff. I love my job, I get to hang out with celebrities for money basically. Put it doesn't pay the big bucks and it is not always consistent. I'm planning to move from England to the US next year and to do so will take a lot of money, so I need some extra income. What better way than to get it by doing something else I love!?

My hope is that $15 per 4/5/6 hour session is not so outrageous that nobody will play. The US is an expensive place to live. The first session is a free one though! And as I hope you can see by the length of that introduction, I know this world. I know my characters and I will guide you through it on what I hope is one of your greatest DnD adventures ever!

You can also pay Monthly (a month of games = 4 games) for $50 to save yourself some money if you prefer it that way :)

Now that that is out of the way, if you're still here that is. Game Details. (I made an account here just for this!)

I am going to be running two groups a week in the world. One will run on Tuesdays, the other Saturdays and I plan to run a few half-price crossover sessions when the time is right. Sessions will last between 5/6 hours most weeks with occasional room if people have to maneuever around the game with real life.

Tuesday- 5:30pm PST, 8:30 EST

Saturday- 4pm PST, 7pm EST

So if you're interested in an experience to remember, memorable characters and an insane world drop your answers to the below application and...

Welcome to Sutherhol

Character

Name-

Race-

Class-

Age-

Backstory-

You

Name-

Age-

Which group?-

Are you ok with the game fee after the first session?-

Name- Gajin

Race- Kobold

Class- Bard

Age- 24

Backstory- After growing up in the Yarku mountains, Gajin saw how horrible the kobolds in power were ruling his beautiful nation.  Quickly he sought to rise to power gaining followers using his influential speech tactics (he found a gem earlier to empower his speech craft which will be his "instrument" even though he is casting spells through his speeches).  However the kobolds in power were not happy to see Gajin's rise to power and wouldn't hear about his reforms.  Gajin was outraged by this, and started planning a coup of the government.  The kobolds in power found out about his plans and exiled him as fast as possible. Now Gajin is on the road preaching his ideas of a superior kobold race to anyone he meets.  

TLDR: kobold supremecist

You

Name- Jack

Age- 19

Are you ok with the game fee after the first session?- I mean no but if I can find a way to pay I will. Uni is expensive man

Allow me to PM you friend

my discord is Jack4891#6717