[LFP] D&D 5e Homebrew campaign / Mon, Sun or Wed 18:00 GMT/UTC [TEXT-BASED]

[Gruber]

The game is full at the moment.

FG License: Standard FG License Required
Game System: D&D 5E
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Frequency, Day, Time, and Term: Weekly, Mondays or Sundays 6PM to 9PM GMT / UTC, Long Term
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Text or Voice: Text
Will this be recorded and/or live streamed? NO
Communication: Discord and Fantasy Grounds Calendar page. Mandatory.
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Roleplay & Combat Mix: 35-40% Combat & Encounters / 60-65% Roleplay
Number of Players needed: 3-5 (CURRENTLY 4 and we might have one spot!)
Character starting level & equipment: starting as commoners at level 0, we'll soon develop to level 1
Character restrictions: Player’s Handbook, most other books, no flying races, homebrew possible but limited
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ABOUT MY GAMES:

1. My games tend to be slow. Real slow. Sometimes we play for a couple of months through only a day or two in-game time. Sometimes it gets fast-paced. Don't expect steady advancement but everyone is free to try to speed things up.
2. This is text-based play. If you haven't been experiencing text gaming this is possibly not the game for you.
3. Responsiveness and Responsibility. I expect both from players. Communication between sessions will be kept at minimum, but is mandatory. I need a small and steady group invested in the story for this to work. 100% engagement during sessions is a must.
4. Attendance: I expect players to attend at least 3/4 of sessions, long-term wise. If unable to play for a while, we have to arrange in advance.
5. if you think this post is too long, please look for another game.

ABOUT THE GAME

Details of the scenario:

Set in a Homebrew world.
There are three main themes:

Exploration & survival
A world in motion larger than the heroes of the game
Encountering and countering threats on small and grand scale.

My games tend to rely on roleplay and story. The encounters cover some balance between environment exploration, combat, skill challenges, social situations, traditional dungeon delving, grand-scale battles and more. Those looking for a hack n’ slash style will likely be soon disappointed. Meta- and powergaming is discouraged, focus on creating deep interesting personas rather than trying to squeeze out stats and power levels. The character backgrounds could be included in the story, if possible, but my advice for the players is don't overdo backgrounds, rather think about the personality of your character.

Aimed at mature players, preferably with some role play experience (not essential).


CAMPAIGN:

The world looks and feels similar to usual D&D worlds such as Mystara, Forgotten Realms etc, but the themes and tropes are very different. This campaign emphasizes real-world plots, motives, but there's also some moderate fantasy stuff. Some of the encounters are not balanced at all. This is well-developed universe, with multiple stories and paths to take, all of them possibly connected to one or more major plots. Death will be replaced with temporary or permanent injuries most of the time. There is a complex world, ecology and cultures waiting to be discovered, with possible consequences for any behavior.

This is not high fantasy game. There won't be tons of powerful +x items, beating undead dragons or saving the world from evil cults. There are multiple races, spirits, ancient temples, creatures and all manner of fantasy stuff but it is not a common sight for certain. Magic is somewhere limited and all casters will have difficulties with certain spells. I'll try to allow most that makes sense, but we won't be seeing fireballs flying around and groups of adventurers teleporting themselves across the universe at will. On the other hand, I'm sure we won't lack any, as well.


Setting
Aedum is a continent with thousands of years of history, largely dominated by the conflicts between the races, nations and realms, and their overreaches in attempting to gain supremacy. The setting is based in 5e d&d, but has some unique homebrew elements and deviates significantly from the published material (no certain races or creatures, some are moderately tweaked). Dragons, giants and undead are rare. This world doesn't have professional adventurers who earn a living by looting ancient sites or saving princesses in needs, so PCs in this campaign will have to develop ties to other people, locations, or organizations that drive them to their dangerous work.

Themes:

• Discovery, travel and exploration
• Stories and history
• Low-life characters
• Wilderness, Nature, Badlands
• Elves, Ogres, Lizardfolk.. race and culture specifics
• Treachery and war
• Ancient ruins

What will really work well:

• Roleplay, information-gathering
• Exploration
• Developing characters, relying on skills, features and traits.

What will not work well:

• Hack&slash play style (but hack&slash characters are completely ok)
• Rules lawyers
• A lack of patience, and hastily jumping to conclusions
• An unwillingness to figure out what is really going on

Combat and encounters

• Remember: encounters =/= combat
• value thorough thinking, roleplay and using combat tactics to overcome the enemy
• specific situation and surroundings should provide spice the encounters
• the fights are not going to be balanced and not every one of them is expected to be won; in fact, running away and escaping pursuits is expected to happen more than once!
• there are almost no random encounters in my game. every encounter will have specific location, goals and options
• a lot of the fun comes in from using planning, information-gathering, diplomacy, skills, strategy and logistics and certain tactics.

Players
Players should be more interested in cooperative storytelling than in building powerful characters. This aint no game for power gamers and murder hobos. I'm looking for players who are interested in playing colorful characters (be they knights, lone wolves or anti-heroes), ones who are interested in becoming part of, and influencing in the long term, a campaign setting with centuries of history and endless geography.

Level advancement
Story-based, no XP. The characters are starting as mere commoners. Expect slow level advancement, most of the game will be played under level 10. Sometimes we play for a year before reaching level 3. Players who love to invest in planning their powerful characters will probably be disappointed.

Game mechanics:
I tend to make a lot of mechanics work in my games. Using traits, features, skill and ability checks, skill challenges, background traits or even stories definitely have place in my games. Working with NPCs, trying to find ways to use environment, gather information or find other options to achieve goals is the key to success. Most of the encounters will have maps but we might sometimes use 'theatre of mind' to run stuff.



About me [DM]
I've got years of experience playing and DMing D&D and other games. I'm not experienced in online DMing and this will be my first game run via FG. I'm not a rules lawyer, rather tend to judge relying on common sense, specific situations and descriptions. That doesn't make me perfect, but I've got a good idea of what works for me, and what doesn't. My games are typically plot driven but might feature an element of character development. I will steal shamelessly, using bits and pieces of other worlds, published modules, repurposed for my campaign, so don't be surprised if something feels familiar. As you've noticed, I'm not native English speaker so don't expect beautifully arranged syntagmas.


Applications and takeoff:
The game should start in a couple of weeks. I intend to run a few introductory sessions for the players to feel the game style and pace, until we form a group and are ready to start. My plan is to have 4 players, but I will be happy with 3-5. Session time is not set in stone, but something around this should be expected.


If the above hasn't scared you off, feel free to apply by replying to this post.

Link to game calendar page.

[Gruber]

Table Rules*

• Be polite and respectful.
• If any problems arise during sessions, keep them off the gaming table. Instead shoot me a private in-game message and I’ll make a judgment call on the spot and deal with it accordingly. Or you can bring them to me after the session to be discussed and dealt with in a private manner.
• Rule Disagreements: If we disagree, ask for a timeout. You have three minutes to either find the rule, or convince me it should work how you want. After that I'll make a ruling and tell you why I think it should be that way. There will be no further discussion, and the rule will work that way for the remainder of the session. After the session I will have a more thorough read of the rules, and if you're still unhappy we can discuss further. At the start of next session, I will announce a better-thought-out rule, which we will use from then on, unless we find flaws in it.
• I will sometimes wing things to keep things moving, while we will try to stick to the rules for the most parts, overall story and flow trumps rules.
• Respect other peoples time, don’t be late to planned sessions.
• If you can't make a session, let me know with as much advance prior to the session as possible. That way if there aren't going to be enough players for the upcoming session I can notify everyone else so they can make other plans for the evening.
• Prior experience with D&D 5e is not necessary, but you will need to read the character creation section as you will be expected to create your own character. Though within FG it should all be drag and drop more or less.
• As a GM my main focus is on the grander scheme of things and running a good game, so I trust the players to handle their own part of the game correctly and honestly and learn the rules as well as they can. So please read some rules and refresh any weaknesses in your knowledge as they come up and make sure you become the masters of your own characters inns and outs. Players with little to no D&D 5e experience will be given support and help and time to get to that point, but in the end it does require a little effort on behalf of the players.
• As a GM my workload is often vast. You can think of what is presented to you during play as the top of an iceberg, that is usually the only part you see of what it takes to make the story and adventure possible. So anything you as a player can do to make life easier and the game more enjoyable for everyone is appreciated.
• If at any time you have any questions, feedback or concerns. You’ll find that I’m very approachable and reasonable, and you can always pm me or we can have a short private chat between sessions.
• Do your homework! Players take turns wrapping-up sessions in an online journal. Everyone is expected to contribute on their turn. If you think that's too much work, go play video games.

*some of the rules taken and adapted from Styrmir's post.

[Lypse]

Hi Gruber,

I'm new here, you can ready my short LFG post and let me know if I could fit in?

[Gruber]

Hey, perhaps you could. Depending on session schedule and how much would you be available. I see that you applied in calendar so I'll brief you with more details soon.

[PhorgottenSon]

This game idea sounds amazing, and I would love to join pending the day of the week that gets chosen as game day. I could only join if the game day is either Sunday or Monday.

You do a great job with English as a non-native speaker, well done.

[GunnarGreybeard]

If I didn't have such a crazy work/life schedule right now, I would definitely be jumping in on this.

[Damon]

Good to see you here, G. Would love to join I registered on the game calendar. Mondays and Wednesdays are usually good for me, Sundays not so much.

To all other prospective players: I've played with Gruber a lot and can vouch for his DM skills- if you're into exploration, deep immersion, interaction between characters as well as NPCs, this might be your game. If you're looking for fast-paced, combat-centered gameplay, perhaps not so much. Also, he's a reliable and all-round nice guy, so that helps as well

[Gruber]

Thanks guys. Please make yourselves comfortable and submit on game calendar page. We'll try to figure the day/time which can fit all.

PhorgottenSon, you're in and I'll contact you soon with more details.

Gunnar, we've been playing together before and I know you are a steady member and a good DM, nice to see you again. You can also apply in the calendar page to be ready to hop in if the opportunity arises.

There is still space for a player or two if anyone is interested.

Also, I'd like to know what do you guys think about playing on Thursdays as well.

[GougedEye]

Sounds really interesting. Especially like the focus on deep world and role playing. Would love to get involved if there is still space.

[Gruber]

Sounds really interesting. Especially like the focus on deep world and role playing. Would love to get involved if there is still space.

Hop in! submit application on the game page and I'll contact you with more details. We need a few more players before we're ready to start. Even if there are too many, in my experience one or two always leave during first couple of sessions.