It's a Friday. It's probably sometime before noon. Of course, that's hard to tell when there isn't a sun to judge time by anymore. Or a planet with clocks on it, lacking the sun. Your head hurts, you're a little confused, but you know one thing for certain. One of you is responsible for accidentally bringing about the apocalypse. Or maybe all of you. After all, you're the only ones left alive, and you each have a very nice view from this floating ship of the swirling dust and shadows that was once your home. There's little to be done, however, about past transgressions. Less to be gained from casting blame. And a lot to fear on your new voyage across the Astral Seas... [DM's Note: I'm currently just recruiting. The actual game will not start for a few weeks. As such the specific time is still open to change, though the day is not. You can find the listing here: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/140680/5e-across-astral-seas" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/140680/5e-across-astral-seas</a> ] The Concept Alright, so I've set the tone, but what the hell is this campaign about? It's a simple premise, really. Imagine five adventurers in a typical fantasy world who are each given tasks to retrieve something from an ancient ruin. Sounds pretty much like standard fare, right? But they were all sent by different groups, countries, factions. And when they got there, they ended up turning on some sort of ancient machine by accident. Was it the fact that the rogue disarmed that mechanism they didn't quite understand? Or was it the Wizard reading that tome aloud? The idea is that, comically, each of them were doing something in the ruins at the moment it 'woke up'. A strange conjunction of fates, perhaps? Or completely unrelated? Since none of them have the slightest idea on how or why or what or who or anything about this machine, it's hard to truly say. In the end, one of the The People was woken up from the machine just in time to pilot them out of the planet just before it explodes. This is a slightly comedic, but trust me probably pretty damn tragic, campaign. There will be a lot of planets dying, species being wiped from existence, lovers being split up by that jealous guy Physics, and things that are not actually light-hearted bits of content. But it will obviously be dealt with in a slightly goofy, surreal fashion that I hope makes the story funner than the depressing nature of the actual content. The Plot So, that's the general concept and tone. The actual story that drives you? Other than the vague notion of now being refugees on the astral sea, there is a mystery concerning the 'heartstone reactors' found in many of the worlds across the Astral Sea, like the one they accidentally activated on their own world. The Captain of the ship that helped you flee your exploding planet is, however, without their memory. The plot is about flying from world to world, trying to find out what happened to The People, and seeing if there is a purpose behind these reactors. Most of the time it's gonna be random little adventures and story arcs on different worlds that might last a session or two or might go on for a month or longer. Just depends. This is a long term adventure. My Expectations This is a RP heavy campaign. It's the places I'm strongest at. I like making varied and interesting NPCs and I put a lot of effort into making them and the world feel real. That means please, respect the work I put into this and try and maintain the tone of the world when you can. I'm looking for people who can improv and build on the relationships between the characters in believable ways. With creating characters, I hope for a varied cast. Despite the fact that the planet has been destroyed, their pasts will not be irrelevant. The universe is strange, and I can find ways of tying in backstories really well. Think of heritage. Of now being the last of your kind. Religions and pacts are also good meaty things for characters in this. Where are your gods? The beings you made pacts with? Think of what they'd think about other worlds and other issues now that the things that they once cared about are gone. There's a lot of room for character development and I love talking about this stuff so expect to have several voicechats so we can both get a good feel for who your character is. That way I can create arcs and flavor that engages everyone. The Influences There is a long list of influences, so I figured I should mention them right out. Knowledge of these things is not necessary. Spelljammer (duh) Kingdom Hearts (I mean, come on...) Firefly Guardians of the Galaxy and lots and lots of Lovecraft. Miscellaneous Stuff I Couldn't Quite Categorize But Is Maybe Important This will be a mid-level campaign. Probably somewhere between levels 5 and 8. We will be rolling for stats. When you're making your character, you're making someone who highlights their people/race/religion. Whether you do that by being a paragon of its values or it's antithesis is up to you, but keep in mind that you're designing a people with your character. I am not supplying information on the PC homeworld. You will all be creating that together as part of your character creation. I will have no influence on what type of world you came from. Only on the worlds you're going to. Do try and make a world that has a sense of cohesion together, though, and find ways to create histories between your separate parts of this world. That'll make the relationships more vibrant. In that vein, I will always come to you about developing things related to the world your characters came from. All official material, UA and most errata are allowed by default, with homebrew approved with DM discretion. Meaning I can say no, but I probably won't if I think it sounds cool without breaking anything another player is trying to do. No illithid and no githyanki or githzerai, as I have plans for these species. They are not found on your homeworld, and you never met any of their type before the events of this campaign.
