“You all have been selected by the Hidden Lords of Waterdeep to participate in a new prisoner rehabilitation program. Comply, and you will have your freedom back. No strings attached. You see, the city has been having an issue throughout the years with a little dungeon underneath us. Ghosts, ghouls, goblins, hell, even some trolls have been known to come on out and wreck havoc in different parts of the city. This dungeon is a real piece of work, no one knows how deep it goes, but it houses the worst of the worst. The few that go down either die or only frequent the top layers. Still, the city needs some heroes to go in and deal with the threats once and for all. Now I know you sorry bunch aren’t exactly what your average person would call a hero, but now's your chance to show the world that you’re different than when you got thrown in the slammer. Even if you don’t care about how others view you, as previously mentioned there is a personal incentive to all of this. So, what do you all say? Do you want to go back to your cell and rot away until we have bones chained to the wall, or do you want to fight your way to freedom? Yes, you. You have a question?” “This is crazy! What kind of deal is this? What are we, some kind of suicide squ––” Welcome to Dungeon of the Mad Mage! This campaign centers around an adventure through the bowels of a multi-floor dungeon beneath the streets of Waterdeep. Here, you’ll find just about every kind of monster that D&D has to offer. While there is bound to be a whole lot of fighting, that is not the only thing that this campaign offers. Monsters come in a whole wide range of shapes, sizes, and intelligence levels. There’s bound to be communities of monsters down here that you may want to negotiate with rather than ripping and tearing through. Though, if you do decide to just rip and tear then all the power to you! There is a twist to all of this, though. As you can see in the little vignette above, all of the player characters are criminals/prisoners in Waterdeep! Everyone has done something that has rewarded them with quite the long prison sentence. Long enough that your character would be willing to agree to such a proposition. What has your character done? Did they actually do it, or were they framed? Do they feel regret? Are they using this program as an opportunity to reach greater heights? I will work with each player to help formulate their background to make sure everything is set for this campaign. There is one situation in which a player character would not be a prisoner: if they are the “handler” for the group. This person would be a part of the Waterdeep government who was assigned to watch over the group and make sure they are doing what they have been tasked to do. This role is not mandatory, I am not going to ask one player to do this, it is only available if one of the players really wants to do it. This campaign runs from level 5 to level 20, so your characters are in it for the long haul. As with any campaign, but especially with large dungeons (I am very much thinking of Tomb of Annihilation), danger is around every corner and it is likely that your character will perish. Make smart choices and implement impressive tactics and you may just be able to make it all the way through. Just remember, one mistake could take you out. Are you ready for the challenge? Also, as a heads up, while the premise of the campaign does have all of you being criminals/prisoners, this does not necessarily mean I will be running an “evil” campaign. The only way we do such a thing is if all the players agree to it. I will create a Discord server for voice chat in the game. We will play on Roll20. Players can either make their sheets on the Roll20 game page or on D&DBeyond (though you’d have to use the Beyond20 Chrome extension to play with it). I am planning to run this game on Tuesdays from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM EST. I am looking for 3 or 4 players (I already have one player joined, so I am looking for a total of 4 or 5 players) for this campaign. If you are interested, comment on this post or DM me directly. I am excited to start this new campaign with some new folks! For some information on me: I have been DMing D&D and other TTRPGs for a little over 5 years now. I have run a mix of premade and homebrew, though I certainly add a lot of homebrew elements to the premade campaigns as well. I have mostly DM’d, and honestly it is where I have the most fun. A lot of my games have had a large narrative focus, and while this campaign certainly is more combat/dungeon focused, that will not be an issue (also since I am adding onto it). I am generally open to what players want to do and take feedback/requests for what players may want to do/explore with their characters. D&D is collaborative storytelling and I am not the only person writing this story. If you ever want to do something with your character, just ask! I am always happy to consider interesting actions that aren’t RAW, homebrew races (though, of course it has to be approved), and other such things.
