Welcome to my post ladies and gents! I'd like to start off by thanking you for checking out my post and hopefully you'll decide to join us for some fun, non serious gaming sessions during the weekends/weekdays. There's going to be "a lot" information here for you to read, so stick with me!              Preview of our world map.   This is a Roll20 campaign! I'm a DM with over 5000+ hours logged!(I thought I'd put this here just so there isn't any confusion, the links in the post are only there for reference for our house rules and home-brewed content.)  Let's go ahead and get the basics out of the way.     PLAY TIMES : This campaign will not begin until February! I will be running with a flexible schedule and potentially running up to three games per week.    Wednesdays : 5:30 PM CST.   Fridays : 6:00 PM CST.   Saturdays : 6:00 PM CST.    What are we looking for? : New and old players who are looking for an engaging experience, dungeon crawling, role playing, and loot. We are currently looking to recruit 12 players, this is going to be a large campaign with multiple gamers each week. Each game will be a different storyline and different player characters.  Player Count: 5/12                     A small portion of the living campaign Region Map. There are multiple region maps, all of which have 'adventure zones' and towns to visit there will be rules for traveling, gathering and managing supplies while on the road and random encounters based on the roll of a die.   The Living Campaign:  What is a living campaign? You could compare a living campaign world to today's MMORPGs, even when you're not logged in the world continues to move forward with or without you. Quests and story-lines can be completed throughout the week and it's very much a drop-in and drop-out experience. We're going to be playing as often as we can and the story-line will move forward regardless of who's there and who isn't. We also have a number of 'metagame' resources located on our website we use to encourage our players to contribute to the world building and development of their characters. We use achievements that reward prestige points (experience), new abilities, crafting systems, property ownership and more. Player choice is key to making this work. Your choices will matter and will have a lasting impact on the game world and the story-line as we move forward.   What types of games do you run?                      D&D 5th Edition  - Ainerth is a semi-sandbox adventure set in the mishmash fantasy world of, well, Ainerth. Players will have more or less total freedom to visit most Ainerth locations of their choosing be they cities, dungeons or points of interest on the map. From time to time, there will be story events where players are guided to important quests or interesting dungeons where treasure, danger, and puzzles await them. There will be a mixture of quests, guided stories and dungeon crawls in this campaign. Each and every session will be different - sometimes combat will be the focal point while other times quests and RP heavy scenarios will be played out.                      You're okay with our  SOCIAL CONTRACT .  House rules that make the game more difficult, combat is deadlier, dungeons are the places you visit to die, and we draw from H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos and Robert E. Howard's Conan.  A vast majority of in-character roleplay is done through TEXT, but voice is still required and used when interacting with the GM.  You want a role-playing game experience with survival-horror elements and a mythos like setting where every step you take might be your last.  You're okay with change. We're often adding in new class archetypes, races, maps, lore and other information! Sometimes this means your character might see retroactive changes to abilities or scores. We're always balancing/tweaking our game!  The world doesn't adhere to 'levels'; you may very well be adventuring into territory where a powerful troll has made his home, just because you're level 1 doesn't mean he's going to scale to you so that he's a proper challenge. It's up to the players to decide when they want to run.  You're okay with guns and sorcery and a lot of Gothic horror in your games.  You're okay with dying. Combat is deadly.  You're okay with new class archetypes and races, with a number of the original races removed/re-skinned for the games setting.  If you want to help us create the world while we play, the timeline and historical events of this setting are left intentionally vague. I'm looking for the players to help take part in this settings creation as we play.  If you're okay with using  VOICE chat - we use Discord.   You're an adult who is okay with crude language being used at the gaming table and a little bit of OOC banter while we play.  You're looking for a fun, non serious gaming experience where the rule of cool is king.  You're okay with 100% theater of the mind combat. WE DO NOT USE GRIDS/MOVEMENT SPEED! We use 'range bands'.  Magic is dangerous, feared, and hated in the world of Ainerth. To be a magic user one must be subtle, even when among their own adventuring group.  Alternate Experience point system that rewards tactical prowess and completing goals as a group.  Meta-Game, and I'm not talking about using knowledge outside of the game to further your goals within. I'm talking about features like 'Inspiration' that has no other point of being in the game other than because it's a fun mechanic and a way to reward the players for playing their characters well. We've went a step further and have created a number of achievements, land ownership, and a few other systems that you're welcome to take part in but it's totally fine if you don't.                       You're looking for a 100% genuine 5e experience set in the Forgotten Realms.  You're a rules lawyer or you read through the monster manual while we play. "That goblin shouldn't have a bow!"  You're looking for a hardcore role-play experience where everybody is in character 90-100% of the time with little OOC banter.  You can't use voice or you aren't willing to use voice. Typing is FINE, but only if you're able to speak as well.  You're not okay with most of the in-character role-play going on in text/chat and voice being used to communicate with the DM.  If you've actually read these that's good, when you respond please post 'silverstrand' before your post to be acknowledged.  If your purpose for playing Dungeons and Dragons revolves entirely around tactical combat or you enjoy grid based combat.  If you don't like the idea of being able to shoot a goblin in the face with a flintlock pistol.  If you're playing a character who is evil or more interested in their own goals than that of the parties, it's okay to be the renegade outsider but not if it means your goal is back-stab or kill the party in the process.   Races of Ainerth:  A majority of the races in the PHB and other official resources are not available for play in the Ainerth setting. This is a story about humanity and their struggle against the tides of an alien threat that seeks to doom their world, but this is not a story about heroes. This is a story about how we've lost. This is the story of how those few who remain, live on.   Humans  - They are simply put, humans. Civilization is on the brink of total chaos with most of the major cities having fallen to the reign of the King in Yellow and the Slendered Crown. Barbaric tribes of  North Men  rule the northern parts of the world, openly hostile to each other and all other races. Only a few noble savages exist among them. Swarthy humans also known as  Nemedians  reside in the south and east and are said to practice the evil art of magic, calling on powers that they can't possibly hope to comprehend and as a result are believed to be at least partially responsible for the destruction that has been sown throughout the lands. Making up the western and central parts of the world are the more fair skinned  Briagothians , believed to be of noble birth and the first practitioners of the faith, their religious institutions have since crumbled under the scrutiny of false prophecies and a decline in practicing followers of the Infinite pantheon. From the far reaches of Ainerth there are also the  Vosnian , their country was ravaged by magic and their civilization almost entirely destroyed. The last remnants of their military forces have dedicated themselves to seeking out and destroying all witches, warlocks, and sorcerers on Ainerth. Many consider it a fool's errand, but the Vosnian's care little. They have work to do.  Oskorians  are a fair skinned race of humans that live in the North-West between Briagoth and the beginnings of the Dratani border. They are a secluded and superstitious people who rarely leave their own borders, especially now that magic has been borne into the world. Rampant rumors spread that Oskor is the active staging ground for the Father of Serpents Yig, sightings of Yun-tai and fanatical worship of serpents have been witnessed.   Northmen Naming Conventions : Icelandic, Old Norse/North Germanic, Scandinavian.  Nemedian Naming Conventions : Roman, Latin.  Briagothian Naming Conventions : Welsh, Breton, Gothic, Old High German.  Vosnian Naming Conventions : Swedish, French, Welsh.  Oskorian Naming Conventions : Old High German, Russian.     Do you still want to join? If so, awesome! Please fill out the following information and post below:  RL Age: Character Name: Character Concept: Playstyle: Experience with 5th Edition: -Are you okay with house rules that change up the game dramatically, mostly in terms of combat?: -Are you okay with magic users getting the short end of the stick in this setting? They are hard to play without dying very quickly.: -Are you okay with elements of the real world, H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos, and Robert E. Howard's Conan making it into the game?: