Odyssey of the Dragonlords: Heroes of Thylea

Thylea, a land of mystery and magic. Of ancient secrets and long dead heroes. Its true history lost to all but the oldest beings. A land who's living memory of the past is sordid, of foreign invaders, capricious gods, and a conflict that left all scarred. But from such great conflict, an era of peace was born. And for the last 500 years, that peace has held. But even at the edges of that golden time of peace, storm clouds gather.

The Oracle has prophesied the end of Thylea will come soon, if it is not stopped by the Heroes of Prophecy. Figures whose names are not yet known, but who surely must come soon... For if they do not, doom will befall all those who yet greet the day with hope for what comes next...

Hello, and welcome to my table!

A few notes about me as a DM. I've been playing TTRPGs for the better part of half my life thus far (17 of 33 years at my count) and in that time I've changed and developed both as a DM and as a player. I've come to learn what sort of actions I hope to see in my players and hopefully customs of play my players like to see in me. So a few notes on that front:

Speaking in the broadest strokes possible, I like players who are not just audience members of a play group. "But PB, what do you mean by that?" Great question random voice of the other in my head! Generally speaking I divide players into two large swaths as it comes to RPGs. Actors & Audience members.

• Actors are those who chew on the scenery, engage with the stories, challenges, and encounters they run into, and generally speaking truly do see themselves as the actors on the 'stage' we are all playing on together.

• Audience members are those players who are there to see cool stuff happen, who are perfectly content to let NPCs have large dramatic moments with each other, (Anakin you were the chosen one/I hate you!). These are the players happy to sit back and watch.

Now, there's nothing wrong or better about being one of these types of players over another. I'm sure on a given day, or depending on the game in a single night, a person might be one or the other or both. But I know I as a DM thrive when I've got Actors sitting around my table. When I have Audience members my games feel slow (to me).

• I really appreciate Role-play. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean adopting a funny voice, acting like a buffoon if you have low intelligence, or expositing your entire backstory/motivation to a PC or NPC. To me, Roleplaying can be as simple as the act of choosing to play into your TIBFs (traits, ideals, bonds, flaws), or really listening and responding to the NPCs and creatures around you. Even a person with an Intelligence of 6 can have a remarkable idea every once in a while. I do not often reward DM inspiration, but on occasion I do like to at critical moments of a character's interaction with stories they've been acting within. I have no other way to incentivize this behavior other than to say this, and to add that speaking in general I am another player at the table, just with a different set of tools to work with. And I'd love to have fun together.

• "Not all monsters can be reasoned with, not all villains want to die, and the bad guys want to succeed."
  This is an axiom I've grown into over the years. There are many combats that can be resolved without fighting to the death, but not all of them. Enemies who start losing may try to run if they see an opening and may not be simply goaded into going down with the ship. And if in an intense combat, an enemy has seen a certain character doing most of the damage, and that character goes down, that enemy might go over and stab them while they're down, to ensure they don't get back up. In short, the world isn't a video game with pathing mobs or aggro amounts. These are groups/people like you, and they want to succeed, if they see an opportunity they will work to get there. I want my PC's to win, but I don't want to give it to you on a silver platter.

• Please keep jokes/memes/and other OOC comments to discord chat, so roll20 chat can be kept open for rp and environmental text.

• High Charisma characters need not be the only people who talk in the game.
  Social interactions are as much about listening as they are about engaging. Anyone can be a part of a social moment in role-play. And not all social scenarios will result in a roll of the dice. The only time such a thing will be asked for is when I feel it is necessary. Strong-arming someone need not always result in a dice roll if the threat is delivered well. TL;DR don't rely on your high CHA characters in a social moment. I want to hear from everyone if you've got something to add to the moment!

And with these things said, I look forward to our games together!
Given the nature of this game, a session 0 will occur first before all other kinds of gameplay will be done.

PS. I try to make use of roll20 for music/mood sounds. If you're curious leave your music unmuted in my game, but it's not a requirement of anyone. This game will make use of Discord for communication.

Current date of campaign is a placeholder (but will remain Saturdays at its timeslot) as it's moving forward to keep the application open! Feel free to apply.

This game will be using the 2014 version of the 5th edition D&D ruleset.

$10.50 per session paid through paypal, your first session and session 0 are free!

A campaign written by James Ohlen with help from other BioWare folk like Jesse Sky and Drew Karpyshyn.