I'm a fairly new DM, my first time running a game on this system. Mistakes will be made, it's a learning process, I'm always open for suggestions. I'll be running Out of the Abyss for my group IRL in a few months, but I'd love to see how it goes here first.
Info:
Looking for about 3-6 players
Post once or twice a day if possible, life happens, not going to be strict on this
This will be in Forgotten Realms campaign, going to stick pretty close to official lore, may be some creative liberties here and there
Everything will be done in this thread, no outside discord channel or anything. This means we'll be using theater of the mind for combat and such.
Creating your Character:
Only official, published material used in character creation
Standard array stats
Starting at level 1
You will not start with the general starting equipment: all of your items have been taken from you.
Application (post below)
Character name:
Class:
Race:
Background:
Backstory: (This can be a short blurb, or fancier if you want. Be sure to include how you were captured by drow.)
Faction: (optional, if you would like to have ties to one of the 5 major factions)
A goal your character has
A fear your character has
Intro:
You find yourself locked in a dark cave, the cold, heavy weight of metal tight around your throat and wrists. You are not alone. Other prisoners are trapped in here with you, in an underground outpost far from the light of the sun.
Throughout the hardships, and mundane tasks your captors force you to do, one phrase is repeated.
"Accept your fate, learn to obey, and you may survive."
Backstory: Daerthe was born the child of a female human slave and an unknown drow father in the Underdark city of Menzoberranzan. With work from her mother who knew a bit of magic that she kept hidden from the drow she managed to keep her daughter a secret but did not raise her. Instead Daerthe was raised by a group of drow commoner children that lived in the slums, using her to take the punishment if they were caught stealing from the others who lived in the slums. From this rough upbringing she learned to steal and sneak around. As she got older and impressed the young drow or as much as she could while being what they called Ibleth, she was able get in on a plan to break into a noble house. While at first the plan went well things changed when the nobles found them and they all ended up being captured or killed. After getting hit with a sleeping dart in the neck she woke up in chains.
To escape the Underdark and find a place where she does not have to struggle everyday to survive.
She has a fear of spiders(Was once almost killed by a giant one. female drow priestesses and their torture methods.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Rekuberk Onc Level 8 | Half Orc | Barbarian (The Tales of the Fellowship of the White Cloaks)
Backstory: Thun gained a reputation for having the strength to do what others could not. A gravely injured family pet, a lethally ill elder, or even, a victim of extreme violence that left them unable to speak or move. These were the cases brought to Thun. When both medicine as well as every ounce of his druidic and herbal knowledge was expended, he would go back to his cottage. He would then have friends of the victim bring him water from their homes. For three nights he would creep from his home collecting ingredients, and on the dawn of the fourth day, he'd come back with a flask of black liquid. The victim would drink the water, and their suffering was ended. Over time, this earned him a title so famous, that when those who dwell in the dark heard of it, they knew they'd do anything to have his knowledge. The day finally came when he opened his door to what he thought was a potential victim, and instead, he was greeted with a dart coated in a familiar liquid, knocking him unconscious.
Faction: None
A goal your character has: Prevent the suffering of those who can't be saved.
A fear your character has: Having his dark knowledge stolen.
Backstory: Toma comes from a small island nation where she trained her skills of combat, singing and dancing. One night a band of sea faring navymen stopped by to rest. From what or for how long she did not know, but she was eager to meet them. And, luckily for her, they did not see her as a threat. She entertained them to the best of her ability, and in return, they offered her a ride to the 'mainland'. Tuma had only dreamed of seeing an island so big before, she could not deny her curiosity. And, it was everything they said it would be: so many people, so many stories, and many opportunities to sing. She became opular. Maybe, a bit too popular. As the sun was setting one evening, a band of Drow raided an Inn she was staying for the night, with her in mind. When next she woke, instead of a soft, warm bed, it was a cold, hard floor.
Faction: None
A goal your character has: Wishes to do nothing but preform to her hearts content to a large audience
A fear your character has: Has a severe fear of darkness(She has never traveled lower than thirty feet in the ocean).
Class: Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Race: Protector Aasimar Background: Haunted One Backstory: (sorry for the extra-fancy novel blurb, I got maybe too into it)
Born to a superstitious, agrarian family near the border of the Wild, Mars seemed to be exceptional since birth. While she was born with a full head of shining, chestnut hair, a complete set of straight teeth, and a radiant aura that cowed midwives, sisters, and rural educators, the child was not able to speak until she was nearly 10 years old.
That appeared to be the time the haunting began.
Mars would scream, whimper, and bark through her sleep, and would stay awake for days to avoid facing the shadow in her dreams: an entity in the form of a long, gaunt, hairless dog with the face of an Evil man. Frustrated by her resistance, the Tall Dog began to appear to the distressed young woman during her waking hours, sitting at thresholds or stalking Mars at the edges of her vision.
Then, one by one, Mars' sisters lost the ability to speak, and think, and walk. They could only lope around on all fours, snarling and biting at anyone who approached without an offering of raw, dead meat.
Consumed by grief, the girl's parents consulted a healer and the healer consulted their knowing deity. Mars was diagnosed: while her soul had been granted the boon of Celestial favor, her blood was tainted by a shadow of the Abyss. There would be no hope of restoration without a miraculous intervention.
As far as slavers go, the ones Mars' parents sold her to were not that bad. Her contact changed hands many times, but a trail of misfortune did follow as she was ever hounded by the mysterious, emaciated specter. Eventually, recently, her ownership was purchased by a community of Drow. She has been brought underground, deeper than she ever has been before. Closer to the Abyss than she ever has been before. She can feel canine teeth around her beating heart, and, for the first time, Mars considers opening herself up to the howling magic in her blood to break free of this captivity.
Faction: n/a Goals: To subjugate the shadow which haunts her, to bend its power to the pursuit of Good and protection of the innocent. To reunite with her family, to forgiver her parents and cure her sisters. Fears: To succumb to the Abyss, becoming a potent vessel for dark whims that pulse through her own veins. To infect others with her wicked haunting and let something Evil into the world. Dogs.
Backstory: Amid wide periods of poverty common in Baldur's Gate, Kelvin's family experienced small periods of great wealth followed by equal falls. His father was a risk-taker to an extreme. When it paid off, the family prospered, but prosperity was fuel for larger risks. Before he knew it, the same habit had worked its way into the child's mind, and the periodic stretches of comfort were all he desired.
When he was old enough, natural spark of brilliance allowed him to enter academia of the arcane. His silver tongue and quick wit turned softened much of the difficulty. Upon completion his schooling, Kelvin followed his father's path of high risk, high reward, but with a magical edge and skepticism born of seeing consequences play out. Within months, he'd amassed enough for comfortable living, but spent above his means. Debt collectors called, but were turned away readily. It wasn't until Kelvin awoke blind, bound, and cold that he believed he may have overstepped.
Faction: Unaffiliated for...reasons.
Character Goal: Money, Comfort, Luxury, and a sudden interest in freedom
Character Fear: Poverty, getting caught and stuck.
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Tanser became a wizard at a young age. Due to his keen mind, he understood the tenuous connection between the weave and the mortal world like others understand how a boat is assembled or a rug is woven. He spent many years developing his skills and becoming a powerful wizard. The underdark was his playground. He was well on his way to amassing a great hoard and becoming famous. Unfortunately, his impending fame was going to his head. He thought that there was nothing he couldn't do.
During one of Tanser's celebratory feasts, an admirer commented that Tanser was well on his way to becoming the underdark's greatest wizard. While the compliment initially boosted Tanser's pride, after the party was over and he sobered up, the meaning of the comment weighed upon him. He had realized his limitation: He was confined to the underdark. Tanser had never ventured to the surface because he fears the great burning orb in the sky. He had heard many awful tales about those who had left the safety of the underdark.
Tanser immediately stopped adventuring. He fell into a kind of depression. Never could he be as great as he thought. After many months of self-pity, Tanser decided there must be an answer ... a way to snuff out the sun so that he could become the greatest wizard both in the underdark and on the surface. He began seeking and studying as many books as he could find that might contain the answer to his dilemma. For more than 200 years, he studied. Eventually, he lost all of his practical magical knowledge save the bare minimum. He had become a recluse. Forgotten. The few that still know him think he has gone mad. He mutters to himself. But his mind is still seeking the answer. He is old and a bit feeble — a mere shadow of his former glory. But he thinks he may still come out on top. If only he can find the answer.
It was during one of his many solitary travels in search of some book he heard about that he was captured by drow.
Faction: none A goal your character has: To conquer the sun and become the greatest wizard both in the underdark and on the surface A fear your character has: 1. The sun. 2. Not finding the answer to the dilemma that has consumed him for hundreds of years.
Backstory: Qin'jor has spent his last six lives in the Underdark. His Queen wants him to find something there, but the drow kept getting in the way and every time he wasted away in one of their cages, only to be guided back by a Raven. It could be a memory. It could be an artifact. It could be a tragedy not yet unfolded. Qin'jor will try again, devoted to his Queen. Again captured, he wasn't alone in the cage. It was different this time, he could feel it.
Backstory: Born as the oldest of 5 to a tavern owner, grew up hearing and serving grand/aspiring adventurers. After waiting for his sister to come of age, he set off to have his own adventure before he settled down. Hearing about the underdark, drows and the many mysteries held beneath Faerun's surface, Nikk just had to go check it out...****y to get captured the moment he set foot underground.
Faction: n/a
A goal your character has: Return home with a good story to tell his family.
A fear your character has: Watching his friends, family, and people he knows die.
Backstory: Alivia grew up in waterdeep being taught politics and formalities since she could walk. Although everynow and again she would be able to escape her lessons and head into the town in secret with Rel Gran an heir to a house that her family had a long standing hatred for. As such when one day her father found out she was to be punished, while being locked away she explored the family mansion happening upon a hidden passage leading to a basement in this basement were many symbols of a winged serpent as well as papers detailing missions for her family. As she was reading them she heard footsteps approaching and turned to see her father. She was sent into her room and the door was locked. Unbeknownst to her her father was already planning on how to keep her quiet. He gave a mission to some of his colleagues and Alivia was taken away in the night by drow never to be seen from again.
Faction: None currently
A goal your character has: To escape and expose her father
Greetings adventurers. You have been prisoners of the drow, stripped of everything but clothing, shackled and placed in a prison cell. With you in this prison are a host of others. A young human woman (Alivia), an elderly deep gnome (Tanser), a woman with chestnut hair who seems to radiate a powerful aura (Mars), a blue-skinned triton, (Tuma), a dark hill dwarf (Thun), and a half-drow woman (Daerthe).
Alivia - You have been imprisoned for 9 days. Roll a d20, with a +9 modifier.
Tanser - You have been imprisoned for 8 days. Roll a d20 with a +8 modifier.
Mars - You have been imprisoned for 6 days. Roll a d20 with a +6 modifier.
Tuma - You have been imprisoned for 2 days. Roll a d20 with a +2 modifier.
Thun - You have been imprisoned for 6 days. Roll a d20 with a +6 modifier.
Dearthe - You have been imprisoned for 7 days. Roll a d20 with a +7 modifier.
Mars - You managed to pickpocket a passing drow to find...a tarantula. It seems friendly enough, though not too intelligent. This is your only starting equipment.
Daerthe - With your knowledge of the streets, and a bit of luck, you have pilfered a rusted iron bar. This can be utilized as a club weapon, and is your only piece of equipment.
Hello, folks!
I'm a fairly new DM, my first time running a game on this system. Mistakes will be made, it's a learning process, I'm always open for suggestions. I'll be running Out of the Abyss for my group IRL in a few months, but I'd love to see how it goes here first.
Info:
Creating your Character:
Application (post below)
Intro:
You find yourself locked in a dark cave, the cold, heavy weight of metal tight around your throat and wrists. You are not alone. Other prisoners are trapped in here with you, in an underground outpost far from the light of the sun.
Throughout the hardships, and mundane tasks your captors force you to do, one phrase is repeated.
"Accept your fate, learn to obey, and you may survive."
Name: Gurok (Sheet)
Race: Bugbear
Class: Barbarian
Background: Outlander
Backstory: (Coming Soon)
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien
Rekuberk Onc Level 8 | Half Orc | Barbarian (The Tales of the Fellowship of the White Cloaks)
Kayassa Level 3 | Satyr | Warlock (Cleath13's LMoP)
Bertolt Silentlash Level 3 | Variant Human | Bard (Our Little Lives Kept in Equipoise: Death House)
Daerthe Narcion Level 4 | Drow | Rogue (Karmoli's Great Upheaval)
Stats [Standard Array]: Str: 10 Dex: 12 Con: 15 Int: 14 Wis: 16 Cha: 8
Character Sheet: ddb.ac/characters/17585724/DD2kO8
Name: Tuma Tuma
Race: Triton
Class: Monk
Background: Acolyte
Backstory: Toma comes from a small island nation where she trained her skills of combat, singing and dancing. One night a band of sea faring navymen stopped by to rest. From what or for how long she did not know, but she was eager to meet them. And, luckily for her, they did not see her as a threat. She entertained them to the best of her ability, and in return, they offered her a ride to the 'mainland'. Tuma had only dreamed of seeing an island so big before, she could not deny her curiosity. And, it was everything they said it would be: so many people, so many stories, and many opportunities to sing. She became opular. Maybe, a bit too popular. As the sun was setting one evening, a band of Drow raided an Inn she was staying for the night, with her in mind. When next she woke, instead of a soft, warm bed, it was a cold, hard floor.
Faction: None
A goal your character has: Wishes to do nothing but preform to her hearts content to a large audience
A fear your character has: Has a severe fear of darkness(She has never traveled lower than thirty feet in the ocean).
Character name: Miarsa "Mars" Ze'evlash - Character Sheet
Class: Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Race: Protector Aasimar
Background: Haunted One
Backstory: (sorry for the extra-fancy novel blurb, I got maybe too into it)
Born to a superstitious, agrarian family near the border of the Wild, Mars seemed to be exceptional since birth. While she was born with a full head of shining, chestnut hair, a complete set of straight teeth, and a radiant aura that cowed midwives, sisters, and rural educators, the child was not able to speak until she was nearly 10 years old.
That appeared to be the time the haunting began.
Mars would scream, whimper, and bark through her sleep, and would stay awake for days to avoid facing the shadow in her dreams: an entity in the form of a long, gaunt, hairless dog with the face of an Evil man. Frustrated by her resistance, the Tall Dog began to appear to the distressed young woman during her waking hours, sitting at thresholds or stalking Mars at the edges of her vision.
Then, one by one, Mars' sisters lost the ability to speak, and think, and walk. They could only lope around on all fours, snarling and biting at anyone who approached without an offering of raw, dead meat.
Consumed by grief, the girl's parents consulted a healer and the healer consulted their knowing deity. Mars was diagnosed: while her soul had been granted the boon of Celestial favor, her blood was tainted by a shadow of the Abyss. There would be no hope of restoration without a miraculous intervention.
As far as slavers go, the ones Mars' parents sold her to were not that bad. Her contact changed hands many times, but a trail of misfortune did follow as she was ever hounded by the mysterious, emaciated specter. Eventually, recently, her ownership was purchased by a community of Drow. She has been brought underground, deeper than she ever has been before. Closer to the Abyss than she ever has been before. She can feel canine teeth around her beating heart, and, for the first time, Mars considers opening herself up to the howling magic in her blood to break free of this captivity.
Faction: n/a
Goals: To subjugate the shadow which haunts her, to bend its power to the pursuit of Good and protection of the innocent. To reunite with her family, to forgiver her parents and cure her sisters.
Fears: To succumb to the Abyss, becoming a potent vessel for dark whims that pulse through her own veins. To infect others with her wicked haunting and let something Evil into the world. Dogs.
Name: Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Race: Lightfoot Halfling, Class: Wizard, Background: Charlatan
Backstory: Amid wide periods of poverty common in Baldur's Gate, Kelvin's family experienced small periods of great wealth followed by equal falls. His father was a risk-taker to an extreme. When it paid off, the family prospered, but prosperity was fuel for larger risks. Before he knew it, the same habit had worked its way into the child's mind, and the periodic stretches of comfort were all he desired.
When he was old enough, natural spark of brilliance allowed him to enter academia of the arcane. His silver tongue and quick wit turned softened much of the difficulty. Upon completion his schooling, Kelvin followed his father's path of high risk, high reward, but with a magical edge and skepticism born of seeing consequences play out. Within months, he'd amassed enough for comfortable living, but spent above his means. Debt collectors called, but were turned away readily. It wasn't until Kelvin awoke blind, bound, and cold that he believed he may have overstepped.
Faction: Unaffiliated for...reasons.
Character Goal: Money, Comfort, Luxury, and a sudden interest in freedom
Character Fear: Poverty, getting caught and stuck.
https://ddb.ac/characters/5965317/Tyicgq
Characters:
Grishkar Darkmoor, Necromancer of Nerull the Despiser
Kelvin Rabbitfoot, Diviner, con artist, always hunting for a good sale
Bründir Halfshield, Valor Bard, three-time Sheercleft Drinking Competition Champion, Hometown hero
Character name: Tanser Quillsharpener
Class: Wizard
Race: Svirfneblin
Background: Sage
Backstory:
Tanser became a wizard at a young age. Due to his keen mind, he understood the tenuous connection between the weave and the mortal world like others understand how a boat is assembled or a rug is woven. He spent many years developing his skills and becoming a powerful wizard. The underdark was his playground. He was well on his way to amassing a great hoard and becoming famous. Unfortunately, his impending fame was going to his head. He thought that there was nothing he couldn't do.
During one of Tanser's celebratory feasts, an admirer commented that Tanser was well on his way to becoming the underdark's greatest wizard. While the compliment initially boosted Tanser's pride, after the party was over and he sobered up, the meaning of the comment weighed upon him. He had realized his limitation: He was confined to the underdark. Tanser had never ventured to the surface because he fears the great burning orb in the sky. He had heard many awful tales about those who had left the safety of the underdark.
Tanser immediately stopped adventuring. He fell into a kind of depression. Never could he be as great as he thought. After many months of self-pity, Tanser decided there must be an answer ... a way to snuff out the sun so that he could become the greatest wizard both in the underdark and on the surface. He began seeking and studying as many books as he could find that might contain the answer to his dilemma. For more than 200 years, he studied. Eventually, he lost all of his practical magical knowledge save the bare minimum. He had become a recluse. Forgotten. The few that still know him think he has gone mad. He mutters to himself. But his mind is still seeking the answer. He is old and a bit feeble — a mere shadow of his former glory. But he thinks he may still come out on top. If only he can find the answer.
It was during one of his many solitary travels in search of some book he heard about that he was captured by drow.
Faction: none
A goal your character has: To conquer the sun and become the greatest wizard both in the underdark and on the surface
A fear your character has: 1. The sun. 2. Not finding the answer to the dilemma that has consumed him for hundreds of years.
Character name: Qin'jor
Class: Ranger
Race: Shadar-Kai
Background: Acolyte
Backstory: Qin'jor has spent his last six lives in the Underdark. His Queen wants him to find something there, but the drow kept getting in the way and every time he wasted away in one of their cages, only to be guided back by a Raven. It could be a memory. It could be an artifact. It could be a tragedy not yet unfolded. Qin'jor will try again, devoted to his Queen. Again captured, he wasn't alone in the cage. It was different this time, he could feel it.
Faction: none
A goal: Become worthy of the Raven Queen's praise
A fear: He fears deep waters
Thank you all for your applications! I'm going to close recruiting, and finalize the six so we can get this game going.
Greetings adventurers. You have been prisoners of the drow, stripped of everything but clothing, shackled and placed in a prison cell. With you in this prison are a host of others. A young human woman (Alivia), an elderly deep gnome (Tanser), a woman with chestnut hair who seems to radiate a powerful aura (Mars), a blue-skinned triton, (Tuma), a dark hill dwarf (Thun), and a half-drow woman (Daerthe).
Alivia - You have been imprisoned for 9 days. Roll a d20, with a +9 modifier.
Tanser - You have been imprisoned for 8 days. Roll a d20 with a +8 modifier.
Mars - You have been imprisoned for 6 days. Roll a d20 with a +6 modifier.
Tuma - You have been imprisoned for 2 days. Roll a d20 with a +2 modifier.
Thun - You have been imprisoned for 6 days. Roll a d20 with a +6 modifier.
Dearthe - You have been imprisoned for 7 days. Roll a d20 with a +7 modifier.
11
Tuma - during your short time here, you have managed to find a gold coin dropped by one of the drow. This is your only item.
Mars: 12
Daerthe: 20
Rekuberk Onc Level 8 | Half Orc | Barbarian (The Tales of the Fellowship of the White Cloaks)
Kayassa Level 3 | Satyr | Warlock (Cleath13's LMoP)
Bertolt Silentlash Level 3 | Variant Human | Bard (Our Little Lives Kept in Equipoise: Death House)
Daerthe Narcion Level 4 | Drow | Rogue (Karmoli's Great Upheaval)
Mars - You managed to pickpocket a passing drow to find...a tarantula. It seems friendly enough, though not too intelligent. This is your only starting equipment.
Daerthe - With your knowledge of the streets, and a bit of luck, you have pilfered a rusted iron bar. This can be utilized as a club weapon, and is your only piece of equipment.
27