Tales from the Yawning Portal

               Game info- AGAINST THE GIANTS

Giants have been raiding civilized lands in bands, with giants of different sorts in these marauding groups. Death and destruction have been laid heavily upon every place these monsters have visited. This has caused great anger in high places, for life and property loss means failure of the vows of noble rulers to protect the life and goods of each and every subject—and possible lean times for the rulers as well as the ruled. Therefore, a party of the bravest and most powerful adventurers has been assembled and given the charge to punish the miscreant giants. Characters whose homes lay in the devastated land probably need little more motivation to face their oppressors.

The first stage of the characters’ mission is an infiltration and assault of the Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. From there, if they succeed, the adventurers can advance to test their mettle against the even more formidable giants of frost and fire, but that is of no concern right now—the steading awaits, and its perils are plentiful.

Campaign- TALES FROM THE YAWNING PORTAL

Date-weekly sessions every Thursday

Duration 3-3.5 hrs

Time: 7:00pm EST

Place: Virtual tabletop on Roll20, voice chat on Discord

Payment: $15 USD per player per session via paypal

Roll20's required payment disclaimer: "This game will require payment to the Game Master at a rate of $15 USD per session. Roll20 is not responsible for any payment transactions and cannot enforce any private arrangements."

Dungeon bashing for the old school gamer and the classic D and D experience.

About me

My name is Derek. I love playing D and D and the creativity which comes up in game sessions. I am a very experienced DM with decades of play and a steady hand at gaming. I aim to give everyone their fair time in the limelight to do their thing.

I get a buzz out of tactical combat and immersion is a big emphasis for me. I support this by making NPCs as believable as I can with a variety of different accents and quirks, describing scenes, combat and magic after each roll.

I have a lot of experience with conflict resolution and aim to create an accepting space for everyone. We are all one and the same and share the love of a hobby. This is what brings us together and that is all we need to focus on to make our time fun.

The descriptions in battle are graphic and I like some gritty realism to make the setting grounded. Humour will pop its head into games and I am all for a laugh amongst the gaming. I love PC's with backstories and if you join my session and stick with it for a month I will integrate it into the game.

Why Pay to Play?

So you get a regular committed group and DM who put in the effort to make some memory's and breath some life into the moment. People who are willing to pay a modest fee tend to approach the game with a more mature attitude, and, ideally, don't quit impulsively when something doesn't go their way.

Story

This game is rules as written and is aimed at keeping it simple and straight forward. This game will be run in modules starting with each Dungeon in turn. You can play all the way through or simply join the dungeon module you are most interested in. The dungeons are;

The Sunless Citadel-DONE
The Forge of Fury-DONE
The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan-DONE
White Plume Mountain- DONE
Dead in Thay-DONE
Against the Giants-IN PROGRESS
Tomb of Horrors

Introduction
Welcome to Tales from the Yawning Portal. Here you will find seven of the deadliest dungeons from the history of D&D, updated for the current edition of the game. Some are classics that have hosted an untold number of adventurers, while others are newer creations boldly staking their place in the pantheon of notable D&D adventures.

Just as these dungeons have made an impression on D&D players, so too have tales of their dangers spread across the D&D multiverse. When the night grows long in Waterdeep, City of Splendors, and the fireplace in the taproom of the Yawning Portal dims to a deep crimson, adventurers from across the Sword Coast—and even some visiting from other D&D worlds—spin tales and rumors of lost treasures.

A wanderer from the distant Shou Empire speaks of strange, leering devil faces carved in dungeon walls that can devour an explorer in an instant, leaving behind not a single trace of the poor soul’s passing.
A bald, stern wizard clad in blue robes and speaking with a strange accent tells of a wizard who claimed three powerful weapons from a city on the shores of a lake of unknown depths, who spirited them away to a slumbering volcano and dared adventurers to enter his lair and recover them.
A one-eyed dwarf spins tales of a castle that fell into the earth, and whose ruins stand above a subterranean grove dominated by a tree that spawns evil.

These are only a few of the tales that have spread across the Sword Coast from the furthest reaches of Faerûn and beyond. The minor details change with the telling. The dread tomb of Acererak shifts its location from a dismal swamp, to a searing desert, to some other forbidding clime in each telling. The key elements remain the same in each version of the tales, lending a thread of truth to the tale.

Character creation

Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest for the six stats (1 reroll of you get a bad roll)
OR
Use the points system
OR
Standard array

I am not keen on restrictions. Anything is possible, we are limited only by our imagination. Only caveat- no evil alignment, as this is a team game and your character is expected to be open to that. All good if they need to build up trust and connection, that's only natural.

If your race is rare it will be treated as such. Eg with wariness and/or curiosity.

In the game on roll 20 please add your character name to your portrait (via options) and include your passive perception alongside your name , abbreviated as PP (number). Also if relevant add your spell save DC as SS (number)

Rules variants

Crit success 20 and 1 is a Fumble

20 is always a success (within reason) and 1 is always a failure. Also something extra will happen when rolling one of these.

Will be using Bob alternative lockpicking rules to make lockpicking more exciting.

Combat

Disarm, climb onto bigger creatures, overrun and tumble actions, from DM book, available for all within combat. And whatever you can imagine.

Combat cards used for Crits and fumbles, one card per person per battle.

Respect

We all share a love of this hobby. Show respect to each other and allow everyone their moments. Any bullying, racism etc will be met with a warning. After this ,ejection will follow!

Experience

We will be using milestone levelling to move with the dungeons.

Thumbs up soldier!

A few days before the game I will check that all can make the session via Discord. Please reply or simply give a thumbs up or a yes.

MVP

At the end of each game session the party votes for someone as MVP. MVP will get inspiration for the next session.

Immersion

I like to describe everything! Without too much detail as it slows down the game. I enjoy describing combat and it is up to each person if they want to describe their action or to leave it to me. When it comes to the killing blow I will always ask how a person would like to do so.

Lets have a chat, my Discord ID is Luther Flamestriker#9161

Cheers

        Derek

Party is lvl 12 and on the last dungeon of Against the Giants and then onto the Tomb of Horrors. 4 people in the party room for two more.