We are a small group playing a campaign based on the 5e ruleset. (With a healthy smattering of homebrew) We use Discord and Roll20 for our games.
Our players are all in late 20s to mid 30s and have a decent level of D&D experience. We all like to take our sessions quite seriously and are looking for someone with a similar play style. (You won't find any Anime crap or Mary Sue shit here, so if you're looking for that kind of thing, please look elsewhere.) Voice acting and good theatrics are welcomed, but a good 3 dimensional and believable character is really all we're looking for. If you join, know that you'll be joining in to an already running campaign. We have had one player leave due to medical reasons and another is taking a break due to creative disagreements...
Anyway, the campaign is set in a homebrew world similar to Toril, but with a much darker theme. I would say that the campaign should be considered as HARDCORE. This world is really out to get the player characters. You have to use your wit and ingenuity to survive, simply spamming spells and abilities just won't cut it.
Here is a small excerpt from the original starting point to get you oriented.
"Citizens of a Endorahn. A large nation where powerful magic is commonplace, ruled by a ruthless council known as The Cabal, is where our setting starts... Over the years, Sage-Masters in the employ of The Cabal had beseeched their masters to take caution and that reliance on the weave and disregard for the balance things could not be safely maintained. Frivolous ensnarement of such raw power was dangerous and highly irregular, manipulation of the weave relies upon a sharing of power. It is not an endless font to be exploited.
Alas, powerful wizardry fuelled the city's infrastructure, floating isles, teleportation towers and other wondrous creations were the very symbol of Endorahn. The nation had risen to become the uncontended power in the region, to regulate high magic would send a message of weakness to the ever probing enemies of the state. This magically fuelled golden age must, however, come at a price.
Conspiracies whispered at first by the learned few became known to all as things shifted. At first, crops began to fail, children were born with mutation and sickness. Blights and epidemics sprang up in once healthy communities. The Sages warned of planar imbalance.
More years followed with increasingly more sickness and famine spreading like wildfire throughout the countryside. As rebellion threatened, The Cabal took decisive militant action to quash all and any voices of decent.
During an extensive mining operation funded by The Cabal to sate their ever increasing need for magical ores and precious gems, an ancient relic was discovered. A doorway hewn from obsidian-like rock thirty feet in height and breadth, containing a shimmering crimson energy field that hissed and sparked with arcane energy. This portal was, of course, thoroughly investigated. At first small items and small animals were sent through, but orders from The Cabal were to hurry the research, eventually many expeditions had been sent through, yet none were ever to return. Maybe it was by chance, or maybe there was something more to the portal, but it became obvious that as these souls were sent through the portal, the sickness and famine eased. The Cabal concluded that the portal must have some profound connection to the magical weave and therefore decided to make use of it in the best way they could. The systematic sacrifice of death-sentenced prisoners to fuel the prosperity of the elite began.
And this is where you start, standing in front of a 30 foot crimson glowing portal, made of a solid black rock. You and your companions stand bound together by thick black chains stretching through the holes in the manacles around your wrists. Stripped of all your possessions save the simple clothing on your backs.
Soon to be dismissed from the only realm you've ever called home, the guards motion for you to step forward..."
We've played about 10 sessions since then and there have been many laughs, many tears and a lot of adventuring. The world is a forbidding place, full of dark creatures and even darker goings on. Although we've been playing for a while, we've only really just started to explore some of the bigger plot hooks. The campaign is open-world so there has been a lot to do and explore.
We've lost some characters along the way, but the party at the moment consists of:
Del: A human physician afflicted with a strange blood curse. Valentine: A strange human Rogue/Sorcerer with a dark past and darker secrets. Wulfberht: A human Cleric of Gond, a man with a good heart and firm morals.
The party is of a Good - Neutral mix.
There are some homebrew additions, such as a new stat for character Sanity, Corruption and fumble die for spell casting.
Spell Fumble: Innate abilities and cantrips are not effected, but 1st level and above spells cast require a player to roll a fumble die. Fumble starts out at 1d12 and on a failure (1), the player will roll from a random spell misfire list. Each failure results in the fumble die count being lowered, so failure becomes more likely. Eg, on a failure your fumble die will be reduced from 1d12 to 1d8. Fumble die can only be raised from prolonged periods of focus on the weave or connection with a character's deity/patron. This is both intended to make casting of spells more risky and to reflect the chaotic nature of magic in the campaign setting.
Sanity: Each player starts out with 2d6+6 Sanity points. These are treated like any other stat with which Sanity saves must be made at the DM's discretion. Sanity saves are usually made when PCs encounter highly disturbing events or sights. Failures here can be incapacitating to the player character, but may also link in to negative events from the character's backstory. Eg. "The party comes across the flayed corpses of an entire village, staked out in the fields surrounding the small hamlet. Roll for Sanity" "Duras the Dwarf fails his Sanity save and becomes catatonic. He begins mumbling to himself and rocking back and forward in the back of the cart." "Images of the stronghold he left behind flash through his mind, grotesque pictures of his fallen kin eviscerated by the goblin filth burn in to his thoughts." Duras is considered non functional and must be helped by the party until the effects wear off.
Corruption: One of the main features of the campaign is an unknown Corruption. Certain creatures and items will spread this corruption to the player characters upon contact. This corruption should be considered very deadly and infected creatures avoided at all costs. The first few levels of corruption only show visible effects upon the character, but later levels will result in severe stat reduction and eventual character death.
Hit points at zero: When a character is injured enough to have their hit points reduced to zero or below, they must roll on a table of negative effects. These can be anything from cracked ribs to missing fingers. Some can be healed simply by magical healing, but others are more permanent and require much stronger magic to remove.
Hero points: Hero points function like inspiration points, but are awarded as a pool of up to 5 for the entire party. PCs must decide between themselves how these points are spent. These points are awarded for heroic acts in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. (Individual characters are sometimes also awarded personal inspiration points for particularly good role play.)
If this seems like something you'd like to try out, give me a shout and I'll pass you a link to the Discord. I'm posting this here on request from the DM, of course anyone looking to join will have to talk with him and see if their ideas and play style seem like a good fit with the group. OK! Thanks for reading and I hope you want to come throw yourself in to this hellish landscape with us!
FROM THE DM:
Restrictions - No off-stuff, I don't want to see any elven rangers named Legolas. - No changelings, aasimar or warforged. - No Ravnica or RickNMorty content or Artificers. - No chaotic evil. - HP fixed. - Start off at level 4. - Use point-buy system, variant encumbrance and coin weight.
Rules - The DM is always right and when he isn't he still is. - Don't nag about leveling up. - No meta/power-gaming. - Keep conversations in-character as much as possible. - Unconscious creatures lose 1hp per turn due to bleed out and can be stabilized by healing kit with a medicine check with dc equal to the negative damage. - Upon resting, half your hit-die amount is restored and you may then expend any amount of hit-dies. - Upon short rests, you may only expend half their hit-dies. - Healer's Kit is required to heal on short rests. - Healing and magic items are very rare and expensive. - Magic is volatile and may misfire. Players start with a D12 fumble die that is lowered by hitting 1s. - 7th ability score Sanity.
I am in my early 30's, from Germany with some D&D and longer DSA experience - so I got quite some Pen & Paper experience. I am looking for a group to join.
Yours sounds interesting, the Homebrew additions are interesting even if it will take a session or two to completely familiarize with them.
I would like to join your group, but I am missing some crucial information: At which times and how long do you play normally and how often do you meet to play?
I think this is crucial information for anybody who considers joining your adventure.
Also do you have any restrictions on what character classes might join ( I only saw you restrict changelings, aasimar or warforged) or is everything not mentioned under "restrictions" allowed? Same question for which resources are allowd (PHB, XGtE etc.)
I apologise for missing the times of play. It only occurred to me I had done so just now and then I saw your message.
As it stands, we have a fixed day of Thursday evenings either 6PM or 7PM start. This hour difference is dependant on all players being free at the earlier time. If everyone is free we can get an extra hour of play. We usually play for around three and a half to four hours or so. Finishing around 10:30 - 11.00 PM.
Although there are fixed Thursdays, we do play on other nights if everyone has free time at the same time. But this is in no way mandatory. There is also a smaller side campaign set in the same world running level 0 characters called 'The tale of the Common Folk' that is also sometimes played if most but not all players are available at certain times. This side campaign is mainly just to give the DM a bit of a break from the main story and is a little more light-hearted in it's play style. But all homebrew rules still apply.
As for restrictions, those mentioned are the only restrictions I know of. I think most of the official resources are allowed, but again, if not directly from the PHB, the DM should be consulted as to the fit of your idea with the campaign and the group.
I will send a link to the Discord in a PM so you can talk with the DM yourself if you have further questions.
Unfortunately Thursday 6/7 PM is an unfirtunate time for me as I am having training at that time. I am more flexible on weekends (and Tuesdays, but even then not at 6PM).
So I will have to pass, but thanks for all the information, it sure does sound like an interesting campaign :-)
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Hello folks,
We are a small group playing a campaign based on the 5e ruleset. (With a healthy smattering of homebrew)
We use Discord and Roll20 for our games.
Our players are all in late 20s to mid 30s and have a decent level of D&D experience.
We all like to take our sessions quite seriously and are looking for someone with a similar play style.
(You won't find any Anime crap or Mary Sue shit here, so if you're looking for that kind of thing, please look elsewhere.)
Voice acting and good theatrics are welcomed, but a good 3 dimensional and believable character is really all we're looking for.
If you join, know that you'll be joining in to an already running campaign.
We have had one player leave due to medical reasons and another is taking a break due to creative disagreements...
Anyway, the campaign is set in a homebrew world similar to Toril, but with a much darker theme.
I would say that the campaign should be considered as HARDCORE. This world is really out to get the player characters.
You have to use your wit and ingenuity to survive, simply spamming spells and abilities just won't cut it.
Here is a small excerpt from the original starting point to get you oriented.
"Citizens of a Endorahn.
A large nation where powerful magic is commonplace, ruled by a ruthless council known as The Cabal, is where our setting starts...
Over the years, Sage-Masters in the employ of The Cabal had beseeched their masters to take caution and that reliance on the weave and disregard for the balance things could not be safely maintained. Frivolous ensnarement of such raw power was dangerous and highly irregular, manipulation of the weave relies upon a sharing of power. It is not an endless font to be exploited.
Alas, powerful wizardry fuelled the city's infrastructure, floating isles, teleportation towers and other wondrous creations were the very symbol of Endorahn.
The nation had risen to become the uncontended power in the region, to regulate high magic would send a message of weakness to the ever probing enemies of the state.
This magically fuelled golden age must, however, come at a price.
Conspiracies whispered at first by the learned few became known to all as things shifted. At first, crops began to fail, children were born with mutation and sickness. Blights and epidemics sprang up in once healthy communities.
The Sages warned of planar imbalance.
More years followed with increasingly more sickness and famine spreading like wildfire throughout the countryside.
As rebellion threatened, The Cabal took decisive militant action to quash all and any voices of decent.
During an extensive mining operation funded by The Cabal to sate their ever increasing need for magical ores and precious gems, an ancient relic was discovered. A doorway hewn from obsidian-like rock thirty feet in height and breadth, containing a shimmering crimson energy field that hissed and sparked with arcane energy.
This portal was, of course, thoroughly investigated.
At first small items and small animals were sent through, but orders from The Cabal were to hurry the research, eventually many expeditions had been sent through, yet none were ever to return.
Maybe it was by chance, or maybe there was something more to the portal, but it became obvious that as these souls were sent through the portal, the sickness and famine eased.
The Cabal concluded that the portal must have some profound connection to the magical weave and therefore decided to make use of it in the best way they could.
The systematic sacrifice of death-sentenced prisoners to fuel the prosperity of the elite began.
And this is where you start, standing in front of a 30 foot crimson glowing portal, made of a solid black rock.
You and your companions stand bound together by thick black chains stretching through the holes in the manacles around your wrists. Stripped of all your possessions save the simple clothing on your backs.
Soon to be dismissed from the only realm you've ever called home, the guards motion for you to step forward..."
We've played about 10 sessions since then and there have been many laughs, many tears and a lot of adventuring.
The world is a forbidding place, full of dark creatures and even darker goings on.
Although we've been playing for a while, we've only really just started to explore some of the bigger plot hooks.
The campaign is open-world so there has been a lot to do and explore.
We've lost some characters along the way, but the party at the moment consists of:
Del: A human physician afflicted with a strange blood curse.
Valentine: A strange human Rogue/Sorcerer with a dark past and darker secrets.
Wulfberht: A human Cleric of Gond, a man with a good heart and firm morals.
The party is of a Good - Neutral mix.
There are some homebrew additions, such as a new stat for character Sanity, Corruption and fumble die for spell casting.
Spell Fumble:
Innate abilities and cantrips are not effected, but 1st level and above spells cast require a player to roll a fumble die. Fumble starts out at 1d12 and on a failure (1), the player will roll from a random spell misfire list. Each failure results in the fumble die count being lowered, so failure becomes more likely. Eg, on a failure your fumble die will be reduced from 1d12 to 1d8.
Fumble die can only be raised from prolonged periods of focus on the weave or connection with a character's deity/patron.
This is both intended to make casting of spells more risky and to reflect the chaotic nature of magic in the campaign setting.
Sanity:
Each player starts out with 2d6+6 Sanity points. These are treated like any other stat with which Sanity saves must be made at the DM's discretion.
Sanity saves are usually made when PCs encounter highly disturbing events or sights.
Failures here can be incapacitating to the player character, but may also link in to negative events from the character's backstory.
Eg. "The party comes across the flayed corpses of an entire village, staked out in the fields surrounding the small hamlet. Roll for Sanity"
"Duras the Dwarf fails his Sanity save and becomes catatonic. He begins mumbling to himself and rocking back and forward in the back of the cart."
"Images of the stronghold he left behind flash through his mind, grotesque pictures of his fallen kin eviscerated by the goblin filth burn in to his thoughts."
Duras is considered non functional and must be helped by the party until the effects wear off.
Corruption:
One of the main features of the campaign is an unknown Corruption. Certain creatures and items will spread this corruption to the player characters upon contact.
This corruption should be considered very deadly and infected creatures avoided at all costs.
The first few levels of corruption only show visible effects upon the character, but later levels will result in severe stat reduction and eventual character death.
Hit points at zero:
When a character is injured enough to have their hit points reduced to zero or below, they must roll on a table of negative effects.
These can be anything from cracked ribs to missing fingers. Some can be healed simply by magical healing, but others are more permanent and require much stronger magic to remove.
Hero points:
Hero points function like inspiration points, but are awarded as a pool of up to 5 for the entire party.
PCs must decide between themselves how these points are spent.
These points are awarded for heroic acts in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
(Individual characters are sometimes also awarded personal inspiration points for particularly good role play.)
If this seems like something you'd like to try out, give me a shout and I'll pass you a link to the Discord.
I'm posting this here on request from the DM, of course anyone looking to join will have to talk with him and see if their ideas and play style seem like a good fit with the group.
OK! Thanks for reading and I hope you want to come throw yourself in to this hellish landscape with us!
FROM THE DM:
Restrictions
- No off-stuff, I don't want to see any elven rangers named Legolas.
- No changelings, aasimar or warforged.
- No Ravnica or RickNMorty content or Artificers.
- No chaotic evil.
- HP fixed.
- Start off at level 4.
- Use point-buy system, variant encumbrance and coin weight.
Rules
- The DM is always right and when he isn't he still is.
- Don't nag about leveling up.
- No meta/power-gaming.
- Keep conversations in-character as much as possible.
- Unconscious creatures lose 1hp per turn due to bleed out and can be stabilized by healing kit with a medicine check with dc equal to the negative damage.
- Upon resting, half your hit-die amount is restored and you may then expend any amount of hit-dies.
- Upon short rests, you may only expend half their hit-dies.
- Healer's Kit is required to heal on short rests.
- Healing and magic items are very rare and expensive.
- Magic is volatile and may misfire. Players start with a D12 fumble die that is lowered by hitting 1s.
- 7th ability score Sanity.
Hi,
I am in my early 30's, from Germany with some D&D and longer DSA experience - so I got quite some Pen & Paper experience. I am looking for a group to join.
Yours sounds interesting, the Homebrew additions are interesting even if it will take a session or two to completely familiarize with them.
I would like to join your group, but I am missing some crucial information: At which times and how long do you play normally and how often do you meet to play?
I think this is crucial information for anybody who considers joining your adventure.
Also do you have any restrictions on what character classes might join ( I only saw you restrict changelings, aasimar or warforged) or is everything not mentioned under "restrictions" allowed? Same question for which resources are allowd (PHB, XGtE etc.)
Thanks and greetings,
Kinglooi
Well met Kinglooi,
I apologise for missing the times of play. It only occurred to me I had done so just now and then I saw your message.
As it stands, we have a fixed day of Thursday evenings either 6PM or 7PM start. This hour difference is dependant on all players being free at the earlier time. If everyone is free we can get an extra hour of play.
We usually play for around three and a half to four hours or so. Finishing around 10:30 - 11.00 PM.
Although there are fixed Thursdays, we do play on other nights if everyone has free time at the same time. But this is in no way mandatory.
There is also a smaller side campaign set in the same world running level 0 characters called 'The tale of the Common Folk' that is also sometimes played if most but not all players are available at certain times.
This side campaign is mainly just to give the DM a bit of a break from the main story and is a little more light-hearted in it's play style. But all homebrew rules still apply.
As for restrictions, those mentioned are the only restrictions I know of.
I think most of the official resources are allowed, but again, if not directly from the PHB, the DM should be consulted as to the fit of your idea with the campaign and the group.
I will send a link to the Discord in a PM so you can talk with the DM yourself if you have further questions.
Hey there, thank you for the reply.
Unfortunately Thursday 6/7 PM is an unfirtunate time for me as I am having training at that time. I am more flexible on weekends (and Tuesdays, but even then not at 6PM).
So I will have to pass, but thanks for all the information, it sure does sound like an interesting campaign :-)