LFP D&D 5e Sundays 4pm EST - Nalaria: Choices Matter

I'm looking for a few players for a long-term homebrew D&D campaign, and I'm hoping to find people who want the same kind of game I do. I like character-driven campaigns with strong party relationships, mysteries worth investigating, recurring NPCs, meaningful choices, and a world that reacts to what the players do. I want serious moments and real consequences, but also humor, friendship, victories, and the weird moments that naturally develop when a group has been playing together for a while. Nalaria is a young human kingdom formed from three formerly independent city-states. Its leaders promise stability after generations of conflict, but that stability increasingly comes with a price. Magic is regulated by a powerful organization called Arcane Oversight. Non-human citizens face growing suspicion and restrictions. War may be approaching. Criminal groups, political factions, religious movements, resistance organizations, and government officials all have their own ideas about what's happening and what should be done about it. There are also much older mysteries beneath all of this. The people of Nalaria live among remnants of civilizations they don't fully understand. History is incomplete, and some things accepted as fact may simply be the best explanation anyone has come up with. There are real answers to discover. I'm not going to hand them to you. Despite some serious subject matter, this isn't intended to be grimdark. Danger and difficult situations should make friendship, humor, safety, discovery, and victories matter more. I'm also not writing a plot that the party is expected to follow. I'll create people, factions, problems, mysteries, and places. You decide what matters. If the party becomes fascinated by something I expected to be minor, I'll follow you there. If you make an NPC important, they can become important to the campaign. If you ignore a problem, the world won't necessarily wait for you to come back. There will be combat, and I enjoy the tactical side of D&D, but investigation, exploration, negotiation, sneaking into places you shouldn't be, making allies, and figuring out what's actually going on are just as much a part of the game. Most importantly, I want the party itself to matter. I'm looking for characters who develop relationships with one another. Friendships, disagreements, running jokes, personal quests, loyalties, romances if people want them, and quiet conversations between adventures are all welcome. You don't need to be a great actor or speak in character constantly. You do need to care about your character as a person and be interested in the other characters at the table. You'll probably fit well if you enjoy getting curious about the world, creating characters with motivations and flaws, interacting with recurring NPCs, making decisions without obvious right answers, supporting another player when they're in the spotlight, and having sessions where combat isn't necessarily the focus. New players are completely welcome. I'd rather play with an engaged new player than an expert who isn't interested in the characters or world. Your character can be secretive, abrasive, morally complicated, or slow to trust, but ultimately make someone who has a reason to be part of a group and who is capable of caring about the people in it. I know what's happening behind the scenes, but I'm not trying to trick you into making the "correct" decisions. NPCs may lie. People can be wrong. Different factions may have legitimate reasons for believing they're doing the right thing. But if you investigate something, you'll learn things. If you come up with a good plan, I'll let it work. If you make a choice I wasn't expecting, I'll follow it rather than trying to steer you back toward my original idea. If the party fundamentally changes the direction of the campaign, that's not ruining my story. That becomes the story. If you're interested, don't send me a character sheet yet. I'd rather hear a little about you as a player: What kind of moments in an RPG stick with you after the campaign is over? Tell me about a character you've played—or would like to play—that interests you for reasons other than their build. How do you feel about sessions where little or no combat happens because the party gets absorbed in roleplay, investigation, or planning? What do you enjoy about another player's character getting the spotlight? What's something a DM or another player can do that makes a campaign stop being fun for you? There aren't secret right answers. I'm mostly trying to find a group of people who get excited about the same kind of D&D. If this sounds like the kind of campaign you've been looking for, tell me a little about yourself.

Hi Phil! I'm interested in joining your campaign. As a player from one of your previous campaigns, I'd love to see what you've got brewing this time. I'm the kind of player that loves to see how things unfold. When plot threads all wind together into a big reveal; when a character's hinted backstory gets the spotlight; when an insane gamble of a dice roll dramatically changes the scene (for better or worse). These are the kinds of things that stick with me after a session, and are what I want to tell other people about. I don't have a lot of experience with TTRPGs, but I've played a halfling rogue from a splintered group of thieves and an elf bard determined to make a mark on the world. I liked playing to my character's strengths as well as leaning into their interactions with the other player's characters. Generally, I'll play whatever class fills a hole in party composition and build a character I like around that, so I don't have a specific character I want to play right at this moment (although I have some ideas!). I'm totally okay with sessions where there's no combat, as long as the characters get to do stuff or learn things. What I like about other characters getting the spotlight is trying to figure out where their motivations lie and how my character will handle interactions with them going forward. Even when I'm wrong, it's fun to play out! Something that kills sessions for me is when there is a lot of deliberation about a course of action instead of actually doing anything. Digging for the "best" answer is not always a good way to spend a session in my opinion, and it can absolutely destroy the pacing of a session if not handled properly. The same goes for combat, like when people have no idea what they are going to do when their turn comes up (and especially if they don't even know what their character can do). I hope you are satisfied with my responses, and that you might consider me for your campaign. Thanks!

Hello, Philip! I'm certain that we've met before, thanks to jimronandmoe from above, but I'll still introduce myself like it's the first time. I'm a relative newcomer to the hobby of tabletop roleplaying, but in the short half-year that I have been participating, I have found a great passion for the improvisation of collaborative stories. For those three stories that I've been a part of, I have been told that I'm a fantastic addition to the table, due to my agreeable personality and consistency of attendance. Your story sounds exactly like what I want to enrich my experience with the hobby as a whole. I have had at least one lesser experience at someone's table, but what I can see here promises to be the antithesis of that mediocrity. Let me answer your questions to show how I could fit in as a player at your table. 1. What kind of moments in an RPG stick with you after the campaign is over? The moments that stick with me are those where the emotional investment is at it's highest. They're when two characters get that much closer to understanding each other, or offer support against struggle. It's when success feels possible, but not guaranteed. And, sometimes, it's the natural 20's that shift a dire situation, or the natural 1's that create one. 2. Tell me about a character you've played—or would like to play—that interests you for reasons other than their build. I have two characters I'm currently playing who's stories have me captivated. Firstly is a botanist spellcaster harboring secrets. Their hidden plight was meant to be an exploration of trust, belonging, and self-reflection. I want a DM like you that would be *genuinely* interested in putting them in a world that cares to develop their story. Secondly is a halfling bard who has been a joy to build their eccentric and humorous personality. I loved seeing the worst of a cruel multiverse pitted against them, only to tell a story of pushing back for a chance at seeing someone smile. For the few that saw his performances, it was wonderful. Though I'm fond for either of these characters, I'm open to experimenting with story ideas and the characters that will tell them. It matters most that whatever character I play, I am part of a story, with characters that have personalities, and that our experience can be shared passionately as members of a group. 3. How do you feel about sessions where little or no combat happens because the party gets absorbed in roleplay, investigation, or planning? Perfect. Investment for the story and the people I'm sharing it with can exist without drawing our weapons. I can tell you from my brief experiences that simply slaughtering enemies without a compelling 'why' behind it gets stale, fast. I haven't even been part of many combat encounters where tactical nuance was encouraged. Planning can be interesting as long as the ones doing it care what they're planning for. A touch of deliberation can add suspense under the assumption that simply walking in with high stats isn't always enough. 4. What do you enjoy about another player's character getting the spotlight? Simply put, I've been allowed to hog the spotlight before. It was lovely, but I want to *react* to somebody, otherwise the stage feels lonely. If I'm going to be a main character, it should only be in my own head, because otherwise this is a group tale. The best outcome of all of this is to see someone's take on their own character, and attempt to see them as they see themselves. 5. What's something a DM or another player can do that makes a campaign stop being fun for you? For the other players, I hope for them to be passionate about being a part of the story. I've shared the table with others who have nothing to say, but that is different from disinterest. Even quiet people speak up when they're passionate, and they should be encouraged to do so, no matter what self-consciousness they may feel about what they say. And, caring about being a part of the story means understanding that time needs to be available to enjoy participating. Whomever you are, don't force yourself to begin this campaign under the pretense of making the group happy. Lastly, I just ask that conversations during game time be directed at being friendly and enjoying ourselves, with the understanding that difficult conversations can happen in between sessions. As for a DM such as yourself, I'm already confident that you will not be like my lesser experiences. I want your actions to show that you care about your game, but it sounds like you already do. Also, I make an effort to be prepared during a session, because the worst game to me is one where nothing to observe or do is a common occurrence. This means that I care about the pacing, because waiting cannot and should not replace suspense. This goes especially for the one running the game: (This is a consistent problem for me in another current campaign. Example: I have actually sat outside of combat encounters, twiddling my thumbs and unable to even watch my allies fight, simply for making unclever decisions. I hate feeling left out as much as I hate my time being deliberately wasted.) Furthermore, I can tell your NPCs won't be cardboard cutouts that make telling one-liners their entire personality, and that your world will feel alive. Lastly and very importantly, I crave being able to have a real discussion with you, the one running the game. I want to be able to discuss the story like it's worth everyone's investment, and not a trivia session of lore facts or a group story told in collaboration with a brick wall. I want to give and receive feedback, so that everyone can collaborate in earnest. (Have I felt this way in that other campaign? Yes, yes I have. The bar has been set low by the past, so rest assured that you can't disappoint me.) What you have presented in this post gives me great hope for many sessions of passionate improv and compelling storytelling. If you choose me to participate at your table, you can expect a person whom can be your dependable friend, gives light-hearted fun, and is driven to make a story that's the best it can be. I check messages sent through Roll20 and Discord, and will reply with my username. If you're at this sentence, thank you for reading my reply all the way through. I greatly hope I'm considered for this campaign!