The Final Bid (D&D 5E Homebrew) One-Shot / Free

A dark archipelago of dangerous waters, unforgiving weather, and ruthless people, ruled by a cold and powerful Empress. The realm fell into despair when a deadly plague known as the "Sanguine Mist" or simply the “Red Mist” as it’s known colloquially, swept over the dark waters, causing a painful and gruelling end as symptoms include; visible, bright red veins, frequent bleeding from nose, mouth, or eyes, fragile skin that bruises and cuts easily, oddly liquid looking pupils and most notably, the constant coughing and hacking up a bloody, crimson mist that eventually causes the infected to suffocate, before reanimating their corpse as a mindless, siren-like zombie. Life here is tough, but the people are tougher, and there’s been an odd sense of routine that has formed since the first signs of the infection. Many make their living hauling or pilfering parts of the dead and dying, and while a vague sense of normalcy has returned, there remain a few who continue to search for a cure.

An open-world sandbox style campaign focused on gaining power through financial, political and military strength. The party will start at level one(with a few minor enhancements) and pursue local influence and gathering funds. Will you choose to purchase gear and lean into completing bounties or search for treasure among the ruins? Will you invest in a local restaurant and gather rare monster parts for fancy expensive dishes? Will you delve into small town intrigue and increase your fame through quests and manipulation?  I will likely run a one or two session intro where the party is restricted to a small town and must complete their assigned quest. If the group is happy with the world and we all want to continue, we can make any necessary adjustments and open the world up to a much larger mapped area. At that point, the group will be able to explore and jump into quests, bounties, dungeons, etc. If you can pay, you can hire contractors to build, mercenaries to fight, mages to scry. Kill and steal if you like, but beware that unplanned murder and theft can be risky, and the authorities are scary.  This campaign is set in a fairly basic fantasy type world with its own history. You can read the lore dump if you like, but it won't be necessary to play. Magic works as you would expect, deities exist, and whatever else your character might depend on won't be mysteriously absent. This campaign is designed around supporting YOUR fun adventures, and the world is there to facilitate that.  - I am aiming for 3-4 players, games on Saturday nights, and mainly play using voice on Discord and maps on Owlbear.  - There will be graphic violence and people being quite rude to each other.  - Danger is real and your character can die, but that would generally be the result of ignoring clear "are you sure about this?" moments. - Every type of human is welcome, and there will be zero tolerance for shittiness. - Sexual stuff is kept to a minimum.  - If you have anything you would like to be avoided in game(phobias, etc), send me a private message and it won't appear.  Anyone who'd like to join, please check out the application below and respond to any sections you like. New players welcome. https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTqSonCE6_1giGIJIKV2Yj7eegyb7XQJgNe6U3R2fq7v2psUUEXHZVEdNHb8H5Dl2MsBv7CCosPBPKa/pub

The campaign takes place on a homebrew world called Runial. The civilizations that inhabit it are: Civils, the alliance of demi humans such as humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, goblins, and any other manner of humanoid beings. Ferals, which are more animal than humanoid, anthropomorphic creatures made up of any animal species you can imagine. Pseudofauna, which are a mix of demi human and some animal trait. Examples of this include holstaur, winged humans, merpeople and so on. They're distrusted by both Civil and Feral societies though are free to dwell within either albeit with some difficulties. Otherworlders, mysterious beings with special powers that are resistant to Runian natives. They can be any Runian race, although none of them arrive with memories of how they came to be. Civilization for the most part on Runial can be compared to the 1800s. The most advanced parts of the world have access to basic amenities such as rudimentary plumbing and electricity. Weaponry has advanced up to single action revolvers and lever action rifles. Runial in recent times has been plagued by a mysterious weather phenomenon known as the Aetherwind, a warm gentle breeze that rises from the ground, bringing with it motes of multicolored orbs of mana that float gently towards the sky. Any living thing caught in the Aetherwind is quickly and horribly mutated, rarely surviving the process. Alongside the appearance of the Aetherwind came the arrival of beings known as Otherworlders, people with special abilities that boast high resistance to attacks from Runian natives, making them difficult to combat without extreme measures. The Aetherwind began at the most northern point of Runial and over time has crept slowly to the south, pushing the Civil races down towards Feral territories. Ferals, in an attempt to retain their lands, have declared a defensive war on Civils to prevent their encroachment and Civils, desperate to escape the Aetherwind, grab what land they can to survive. The Aetherwind can also appear in random pockets anywhere on Runial, making nowhere truly safe. You are an adventurer that has woken up in an alien looking laboratory with no memories of who you once were or what has been done to you. After a narrow escape, you're now looking for answers alongside others that have also escaped the facility. Note: The game has themes of violence and is somewhat dark in nature without becoming too edgy. I do not focus on overtly sexual themes. We are partially on the second act of the campaign and are looking for 2 additional players for a long term commitment. I prefer newer players and don't mind teaching them, but veterans are ok too. My campaign has some homebrew and mixed elements. I DO use generative AI in creation of character images and some tokens in Foundry. I do NOT use AI in any part of my worldbuilding, character creation, or story progression. The session will take place over Discord mostly through text and voice, but for some sequences such as combat Foundry will be used. If this info dump was enough to entice you, feel free to message me!