Hello friends! The pandemic has hit hard, and in order to maintain my passion for DMing in the absence of real employment, I must find a way to get paid for it. Therefore I am looking for a group of 5 players (or multiple groups if there is enough interest) for a weekly game. This game is for both newbie and veterans. Newbies take note: there is a fair amount of homebrew and unofficial mechanics, but we're starting at the very very beginning of the skill tree and you will get ample explanation of your capabilities. About me: I'm Trevor! I've been DMing for over a decade, and I have both a Bachelor's and an MFA in Fiction Writing. Prior to COVID-19 I was a bartender in Brooklyn and running three in person campaigns. Now I am unemployed in Ann Arbor and running no campaigns. As a DM I am known for demanding role-play, demanding combat, generous loot, over-built worlds, and keeping story relevant. I don't force players to abide by choices born of misunderstanding situations or the rules. I'm really not worried about balance. If you feel under-powered in my game, you will also know what to do to rectify that situation. The Campaign: The idea for this game is Hogwarts meets D&D. Each character arrives at Gadfly's School of Magic at level 0 knowing only one cantrip that demonstrates their magical talent. They will attend classes, go on educational missions together, and strive to increase their power. The players have a hand in generating NPC classmates, some of the gods of the world, and local customs in a variety of places. Each path to magical prowess has very specific requirements of its adherents, and accomplishing those goals will be a majority of early quests. Once each character has picked a path, they begin leveling in a modified version of that class. Once you have attained a journeyman’s level of power and understand your path, you will be sent on a broader quest to solve some urgent and pan-national crisis to test and hone your abilities. You will return as masters or not at all. There are only five classes available, and they have all been modified to increase both their power and risks. We will gain a level roughly every two weeks, but the process of leveling in this game will be a little different. Rather than gaining experience points, you will, in game, acquire the abilities of the next level in your class, and once you have them all you become the next level in your class. Figuring out how to level up your character will be especially relevant. 1. The Wizard: Wizards draw power from the discovered properties of the world around them. Alchemy, engineering, scroll and wand creation, all are the purview of the academic wizard. Did you enjoy The Witcher? Then the "do your homework" feel of this class will appeal to you. Identify plants and monsters, distill their magic potential, and use it to create a breathtaking array of abilities. The risk? Magic is inexact and resists mechanization. Critical failure means truly anything could happen. (Simply put: Instead of inscribing spell scrolls you find into a book, you make them out of enemies you defeat. Rolling a 1 means rolling on a d10000 Wild Magic table.) 2. The Warlock: If Dorian Gray was a grimy car salesman to demons and celestials he might be a warlock. Warlocks make deals, and each of their abilities arises from a different one. Find a mighty patron, win its favor or sink into its debt, and you will emerge with untold eldritch powers. Find more minor entities to dominate or co-opt and you will expand the scope of your strengths. The risk? Relationships are paramount, and they can sour. Punish your imps when they misinterpret your commands, for if you give them an inch they’ll take a mile. Grovel to your demon lord when it loses interest in you. Make them want what you want and pay their prices lest events go poorly for you. (Simply put: You get new abilities by asking for them and paying a price. Pissing off the entity on the other side will cause them to creatively reinterpret your contract.) 3. The Priest: Divinities rise and fall in the outer planes according to how many worshipers (or terrified whisperers) speak their names every day. They reward those who bring more into the fold. Clerics are only too happy to oblige. Converts are everything, and gaining them is only a matter of creativity. What weird rituals do you hold? How do you dazzle or terrify the masses? Is your god a vengeful one or full of promises for bountiful harvest? Remember, they're only "miracles" if you use them to impress somebody. The risk? People know who you are, and they have expectations of you. Do not disappoint your public or your god may wonder what they're paying you for. (Simply put: Bring more converts to your god to get new abilities. Stop behaving like a good follower and your god will get upset.) 4. The Monk: Jedi. Just, Jedi. You prize simplicity of mind, wholeness of spirit. You don't need any fiddly plants or gods or demons to help you for you will help yourself. Driving the entirety of your will through the simplest of ideas produces incredible results: unparalleled speed, telekinetic powers, and the smug confidence of someone who just caught five arrows. You grow by unlocking each of your 7 chakras, identifying what emotional issues hold your character back, and resolving them to release new energies. The risk? Bottling up all your feelings in the name of punching hard is dangerous. If you fail to keep your cool, it could all come flying out. (Simply put: Roleplay focused growth markers. Critical failure can send you into a "rage", but involving a random emotion rather than just anger. Risking this often and overcoming it leads to greater power.) 5. The Sensate: Rather the opposite of a monk, you gain power through the heights of sensation. You must push yourself to your emotional limits, tug at your own heart strings, make yourself laugh, and, if truly nothing interests you anymore, drugs will do just fine. The original Bards and Druids, Sensates wield primal magic born of dance, blood, and sex. They guide others down the path of hedonism and feed on their titillation, doubling and tripling their strength through others. The risk? Push it too far and you could land somewhere between a seizure and an orgasm. Push someone else too far to fuel a spell and they might never feel that emotion again. (Simply put: This is a re-skin of the Bard class with emotion drain and group casting capabilities in lieu of the generalist crap.) The broader world is in a high fantasy setting not unlike the Forgotten Realms, though pushing into guns & steampunk territory. The planes and multiverse are essentially as described in the 5e books, though I am very open to player input. The campaign starts with a fairly structured school environment, but once the twists start coming they will not slow down. It will eventually take players across a handful of realities and through a wide range of roles: fugitives, students, power brokers, etc. I imagine sessions running about 4 to 5 hours (though I have a tendency to go over), and cost $25/player. Send me a message if you're interested! I'm happy to answer questions and align schedules until we get a game running. This game will require payment to the Game Master at a rate of $25 per week/session via Venmo or Paypal. Roll20 is not responsible for any payment transactions and cannot enforce any private arrangements. Listing Link: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/238843/gadflys-school-of-magic-2-electric-boogaloo" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/238843/gadflys-school-of-magic-2-electric-boogaloo</a>