Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read my post, if you're looking for a Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition adventure I'm hoping I can help you out. Right now the idea behind the game is a 'west-marches' type of game. So for those who aren't aware of what that means, it's a way for players to come together and get a game running when folks are around. Minor Setting Information : The world is a fragmented, ruined shell of what it once was, and magic is what ensures it stays that way. In Ages past, before the Night of Prophecy -- when humankind and the other races of Ainerth were given a chance to meet a sliver of what it was that they had foolishly called their Gods -- the world followed the rules set out for it at its creation. Arcanery, in a very generous sense of implying it existed at all, was only a theoretical, philosophical exercise, conducted in meeting halls and lounges by societies that simply enjoyed dressing their social circles in a different kind of trapping. It did not exist; not merely as the world sees it now, in this broken age of horrors, but at all, and when it did arrive, it did so on the wings of nightmares. Magic is not some mystical recipe its practitioners follow on a day-to-day basis to casually manipulate the world around them; while it effects very real results in the world around it, these results are consequences of another reality being imposed upon ours and causing the one we live in to shatter, albeit in -- at least hopefully -- a controlled fashion. As far as scattered records can ascertain, the application of this knowledge came at the hands of the humans of Ainerth first, as most of their peers and the other races struggled not just to rebuild but to survive in the lloigor-wracked wasteland that was once a comparatively peaceful, fertile world. After the Night of Prophecy, rumors of uncovered writings which allowed real magic, real power, to be channeled through a dedicated practitioner and out into the world. These writings were collected in an utterly forbidden grimoire that came to be known as the Black Book, a tome with many speculated origins. Some say the Book is a legitimately living, sentient other, an alien and conscious entity with an unknown and sinister purpose. Others say that it exists simultaneously in other times, other places, other worlds, and exists coterminously to spread its influence in the past, present, and future all. What is incontrovertible, however, is that the following of parsed and translated rituals found in this book or copies of it has wrought unmistakable horror upon the world and those in it. While the Night of Prophecy was responsible for the destruction of cities, towns, and life, the magic found in the Black Book is responsible for the corruption of what remains and what has been built to try and effect repairs upon those shattered remnants. While there is real power to be found in the practice of these rituals, the overwhelming vast majority that even know of the existence of the Black Book are far from willing to pay the cost of not just their sanity, but that of their friends, loved ones, and fellow men. Every so-called spell cast brings Ainerth closer to a tremulous reality merged with that of wherever the grimoire truly came from, and even amongst the universally-loathed practitioners, all but the maddest can recognize that that would bode very, very poorly for our world and those living in it. Most do not know the intricacies of magic, of course, but they know enough and have heard enough of rumors to wish to stamp it out where it exists. People have been strung up and burned, tied and quartered, even tortured to death over days over the mere mention of witchcraft, and this is the case through almost all of actual civilization. There exist, of course, esoteric societies, occasional outposts, even whole races of people who feel differently, but these people are outside of their own universally reviled as destroyers and corruptors of the highest order, and they are ruthlessly hunted and slain by those who catch wind of them. Only in the vast, far reaches of the untamed world is this viewpoint ever relaxed, and even then it would still be a poor idea to reveal oneself -- fear is the most powerful motivator of violence. Three major points of the West Marches style of game are: There is no regular time: every session was scheduled by the players on the fly. There is no regular party: each game had different players drawn from a pool of around 10-14 people. There is no regular plot: The players decided where to go and what to do. No overarching plot, just an overarching environment. You're okay with homebrew rules that incentivize and rewards creative thinking and role-playing over min-maxing. You want a sandbox role-playing game where you choose a hex on the map and drop down ready to explore. 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 Oni has made his home, just because you're a new character 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 matchlock pistols, sorcery, swords, and a lot of pulp-horror in your games. You're fine with dying while playing the game. Combat is deadly. If you're okay with using VOICE chat - we use Discord. You're an adult who is okay with the 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! You're looking for a 100% by the books 5th Edition game. 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 100% of the time with no OOC banter. You can't use Discord, or you aren't willing to use Discord. If your purpose for playing revolves entirely around combat or being a murder hobo, you will be sorely disappointed. If you don't like the idea of being able to shoot a goblin in the face with a matchlock pistol. If you're playing a character, who is evil or more interested in their goals than that of the parties. Don't be that guy. If you think you should have a PC halo. Every action has a reaction. Death can come swiftly to the unwary. Dice fall where they may. I'm looking for fun-loving players who want to have fun! Roleplaying, dungeon delving, exploration, all of those are great. I value roleplay and dramatics over RAW (Read as written) rules and because of that, I've got a couple of house rules that make combat more dangerous (exploding damage dice, and a critical hit chart that is devastating). I also tend to use 'approximate' or theater of the mind for movement during combat. Map of my West Marches area called 'The Silent Lands' : <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/ainerthrpg/home/The" rel="nofollow">https://sites.google.com/site/ainerthrpg/home/The</a>... House Rules : <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/rpgfallensun/5th-ed" rel="nofollow">https://sites.google.com/site/rpgfallensun/5th-ed</a>... Character Generation : <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/rpgfallensun/rules/" rel="nofollow">https://sites.google.com/site/rpgfallensun/rules/</a>... If you have any questions feel free to PM here. We will be using DISCORD for voice chat. Thank you very much.
