Game Overview

Revision as of 16:41, 7 July 2017

• Campaign: Hulks & Husks
• Setting: Planescape (medieval/steampunk high fantasy)
• System: Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (D&D 5e)
• Style: heroic/pulp planewalking and dungeoneering
• Themes: belief & faith, teamwork, conspiracy, artificing, automatons/automata
• Key Inspirations: Shadow of the Colossus (video game), Neil Gaiman's fiction, some military scifi

Overview: In a multiverse spanning countless worlds across dozens of planes, ambition and greed have no boundaries. On the Prime Material Plane, the world of Tessera was locked in war for more than twenty years. But deep in no man's land, a band of heroes discovered a deeper conspiracy. The Bloodstone War was aggravated and prolonged by the League of the Rusted Crown. The League is a transdimensional conspiracy of slavers, mercenaries, and arms dealers. The League sends its agents to Prime worlds to infiltrate nations and sell the secrets of noxious magic. They arrange elaborate conspiracies to obtain slaves and otherwise profit from conflict. Heroes from Tessera must now venture into the planes. They must find allies and muster resources to combat the League and heal their world.

Intro Vignette: Meeting a Hulk

Tools:

• Discord for voice & text chat
• New players can fully participate (and taste-test the DM, party, and campaign) with the D&D Basic Rules (free, see below)
• Long-term players will likely want a D&D 5e Player's Handbook ($25 on Amazon) and/or other D&D books
• Fantasy Grounds (the free/demo version is fine)

Schedule: Friday nights, 9-12 pm EST (2-3 hours)

Adding/Dropping: it's usually OK for a player to miss a session, or to join after the campaign has begun; I try to wrap up each session such that adding or dropping characters is reasonable; I respect Real Life (RL) aggro and schedule conflicts, because I have them, too.

More Details

I tell particular stories in a particular way, so I'm not offended if my style doesn't match someone else's tastes and they bow out. I'm OK with spectators during a session, either to taste-test or just to hang out.

I have extensive experience DMing for a large group (e.g., 6+ players), such as breaking the characters into squads with officers. There's some fun to be had with a large group (e.g., epic fights), but we can reach a point where the fun diminishes, especially if too much time passes between your turns in combat. So if we discover that many guildies want to play, I'm cheerfully willing to explore coordinating with multiple DM's and/or groups in the same global story.

D&D Basic Rules are here: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules

including the Player's Basic Rules: http://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/DND/PlayerBasicRulesV03.pdf

You do not need to read all the Basic Rules before you can play. If you're new to tabletop RPGs or to D&D 5e, you can learn a lot just through playing. This is a newbie-friendly campaign.

I know some gamers have mixed feelings about D&D. The first system I learned was D&D 2e, back in 1989. Subsequently, I've played and DMed in other systems (e.g., Shadowrun, White Wolf, many others), as well as built my own. D&D 4e was a mess. But I like 5e enough to choose it for this campaign. The rules are accessible, the d20 tactical combat system is balanced and can be run at a reasonably-fast pace, and I like the support for meaningful RP and character development (not just stats). We'll start with vanilla 5e. If we keep going, I may bring in some of my homebrew/house rules (e.g., FATE-like aspects), and I'll welcome discussion with players about bringing in supplemental books/rules/spells/etc. or their own homebrew ideas.

I'm DM Cinero, and I hope I'll see you on the battlefield.