The Midnight Circus // Veltria

What kind of game is this? This is not a casual dungeon crawl. The campaign has already begun, the party is currently level 7 and mid-way through the first act, and we are seeking new companions to join the story as it continues to unfold. The Ashen Crescent is a long-form, ambitious D&D 5e campaign inspired by the Third Crusade, told through a lens of faith, prophecy, and political intrigue. Imagine a holy city where banners of rival religions hang side by side; where incense and blood mix in the same streets; where ancient relics, half-remembered prophecies, and bitter oaths drive men and women to fight, pray, and betray. Set in the grand desert city of Elarah, you will step into a world of: Crusade-era conflict: rival faiths clash over relics and scripture, each believing salvation is theirs. Early medieval aesthetics: swords, shields, banners, cloisters, and bazaars. No very high fantasy tropes. Magic is semi-rare and mystical. Low fantasy, high stakes: the miraculous feels sacred, not common. Politics and belief matter as much as steel. Moral ambiguity: there are no clear villains, only zealots, survivors, mystics, and opportunists. Or so you think... The factions are: Luminari — the Sun-faith of order, dawn, and light. Sulahim — scholars, jurists, and fire infused desert camel-lords. Yeshari — cunning keepers of covenant, memory, and exile. Wayfarers — silk road traders, mystics of prisms and hidden paths. Your choices shape the city’s destiny. Who you kneel to, who you betray, which side you protect. All of this carries weight. The System & Tools System: D&D 5e+ (characters tracked on D&D Beyond). VTT: TaleSpire. Custom 3D maps and set pieces (requires a PC with semi-decent specs). This entails that either you have the $24.99 version of the game (Steam), or you are able/willing to buy it. Also, you will need a mini (best created in Hero Forge). Please adjust for that. ⚠️ Important ⚠️: This campaign is essentially a paid-level production offered free. I am building custom TaleSpire boards, art assets, lore documents, and immersive narrative arcs. Because of that, I expect the same level of seriousness/commitment from players: punctuality, reliability, and a willingness to roleplay. Seriousness doesn't mean no fun allowed. In the end, we all seek the escapism and fun found withing D&D. Seriousness instead means commitment, and reciprocating the same effiort I put into giving you this story. Schedule Main Session: Saturdays @ 5:00 PM EST Fallback: Fridays (same hour) when attendance issues arise Sessions are multi-hour, roleplay-heavy, and story-driven. Combat will be present, but when it hits, it HITS! What I’m Looking For I need players who will commit long-term. Respectfully but firmly: if you are just looking to scratch a quick D&D itch for a couple of sessions, this is not the game for you. This is a campaign built to last, and every time someone leaves, it disrupts immersion and damages the living story we are building together. This campaign has been going on for around a year, and it doesn't look like it will end anytime soon. Use this as reference to the commitment you will be making. I’m seeking: Reliability & punctuality: Respect everyone’s time. Commitment: Stick with the campaign until its conclusion. Since this story has already begun, reliability is even more important. New characters are stepping into a web of alliances, rivalries, and prophecies already in motion. Ambition: Players who actively pursue goals and drive the story forward. Love for roleplay: Dialogue, tough moral choices, faction intrigue. Good mic + capable PC: Technical reliability is part of the immersion. How to Apply If this speaks to you, especially within the scope of commitment, send me a DM or post a comment with: Name/Age/Timezone Confirmation you can commit to Saturdays 5 PM EST (Fridays as fallback) Confirmation that your PC can run TaleSpire + mic confirmation Your D&D experience (new/casual/veteran) A short character seed (2–4 sentences: motive, flaw, and which faction intrigues you so far) Why you’re looking for a long-term campaign, and why does this one resonate with you From there, we’ll schedule a short Discord interview to ensure compatibility. This isn’t meant to gatekeep. It’s to protect the story, the group, and the time we’re all investing. Why Join? Because The Ashen Crescent is designed to feel like stepping into a living chronicle. Think the Crusades retold in a D&D world. A city of temples and markets, faith and blood, prophecy and steel. If you’ve ever wanted to be part of something epic, morally complex, and richly atmospheric, this is it. If you’re ready to swear your oath and carry it through to the end — Elarah awaits. Here synopsis about most of what has happened so far: Each of them crossed the Kesareth Desert alone, drawn by purpose, faith, or something they could not fully explain. Their paths converged at a Wayfarer caravanserai, where strangers became companions out of necessity. From there, they set their sights on Elarah, the sacred city at the heart of the desert, said to be a place where prophecy, power, and belief all collide. Days into their journey, the sky erupted in a storm of falling stars. The heavens burned with unnatural color, and those who witnessed it were forever changed. A crystal-like mark formed on their right forearms, alive in ways none of them understand. It reacts. It pulses. It seems to answer to something beyond them. When they finally reached Elarah, they found its gates sealed. The city had already begun to fracture under the weight of its own faiths. Forced to slip inside through the sewers, they were met with a truth far worse than rumor. Elarah is not simply tense. It is unraveling. Within its walls, four competing faiths struggle for control, each convinced they alone hold truth. Law is enforced with severity in the Ink Row, where rulings are swift and often merciless. The streets are filled with unrest, quiet fear, and the sense that something inevitable is approaching. Amid this instability, the players found footing with the Red Company, a powerful mercenary force tightening its grip on the city. They offer work, protection, and information, but never freely. Every favor has weight, and every agreement draws the players deeper into a web of ambition and control. After making a rash decision to stand for their morals, the group feel the consequences of their choices. Hunted by half the city, and narrowly escaping a close brush with the punishment hanging over their head, they leverage what little favor they have left with the Red company to arrive at the four pillars, the birthplace of a faith that spans the known world. There, the party found both a new truth and a new purpose under King Baldwin. Following the command of the King, the party sets sail into the Levantine sea, heading into Anatolia to investigate the lack luster support given by one of the holy orders to the defense of Elarah. On their way there, the captain screamed for the party and crew to man the defenses, chaos erupting as they scramble: fumbling over ropes in the cramped deck; on the horizon: three ships appearing on the horizon, sails raised at full mast, rushing into combat range. A grueling sea battle ensued, ballista cracks and screams filling the air; through skill, planning, trust, and faith the players managed to barely escape with their lives at a great cost. Now stranded in the middle of the sea, exhausted, lost, and clinging to life; the players will be tested in a hostile and unforgiving environment; surrounded by miles and miles of deep water, they must find a way to their destination. Or at the very least survive. The party stands at a crossroads. War is no longer a distant threat but an approaching certainty. Each faction calls for loyalty. Each path carries consequence. The question is no longer whether Elarah will change, but who will shape what comes next. And whether this fragile alliance of strangers can survive long enough to choose.

The world of Phelun is an old one that has seen many conflicts throughout its history. While times seem peaceful, beneath the surface there are whisperings of the Dragon Queen stirring within her prison, strange events occurring upon the continent of Ines, and adventure awaiting upon the lost continent of Asoris. This is an 18+ only server that is a mix of go at your own pace pbp and west marches living world elements.  https://discord.gg/X8dFsNrjBw This is a new Server that has been worked on by one DM for 3 months. It currently features the following:     PbP forums for those who prefer slower RPs.     Living world channels where characters can explore the lands or meet one another in real time in the pub.     DM run Tables. (We are looking for more DMs to help run tables)     Mining, gathering, fishing, and exploration through Avrae commands (commands are ready, but random tables need to be filled out more for variety).     Random in game daily events (not tied to irl days, and still being worked on).     Market to buy items.     Guilds (will need leaders).     Job command to earn coin and a living world channel to RP the work in. (currently being reworked)     Custom Drinking command for the pub.     Player housing.

System: D&D 2024 Platform: Discord, D&D Beyond, D&D Beyond Maps, and LegendKeeper Schedule: Thursday, 6pm Central Time Frequency: WEEKLY  Session length: About four hours Campaign length: Approximately 50–75 sessions Starting level: Level 1 prologue, with the full party beginning at level 3 Expected ending level: Level 16 Cost: Free Players: I am looking for four players, with the possibility of adding a fifth if the group fit is right. Material Source: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-OEnJ50yCIcWwqcffUEO I am putting together a long-term online campaign set on Rabiah, one of Magic: The Gathering’s earliest planes. You do not need to know anything about Magic to play. I will provide a player guide explaining the world, important cultures, major regions, and the situation at the beginning of the campaign. This version of Rabiah is being built as a complete D&D setting rather than a short visit to an MTG location. It has its own calendar, cultures, governments, trade routes, factions, settlements, regional economies, and conflicts that continue moving whether the party becomes involved or not. The campaign begins in Marsa Qamar during the First Open Roads Convocation. New passages have made travel between Rabiah, its alternate Refractions, and other planes much more common. That has created opportunities for trade, travel, migration, and reunion. It has also created arguments over who controls these passages, who may use them, and what happens when two versions of history begin contradicting each other. There is a central conflict, but there is no required route through it. NPCs will give you clear leads and real choices about where to go next. You may work with a faction, oppose it, change its leadership, ignore it, or discover that somebody you trusted had a very different plan. Problems elsewhere will continue to develop while the party is making those decisions. I want the world to feel like it exists beyond the player characters. Merchants travel, families make decisions, factions spend resources, and local problems may improve or get worse without the party. If you save one town, another situation may change while you are gone. That does not mean I automatically choose the worst outcome whenever you ignore something. It means the rest of Rabiah is also allowed to act. The tone will depend partly on where you go and what you choose to do. Some sessions may be lighthearted, strange, or hopeful. Others may become dangerous or genuinely dark. I am aiming for grounded adventure rather than constant misery. The world can be deadly, but I am not trying to trick players into dying. Serious danger will usually be communicated. Planning, negotiation, retreat, local knowledge, and asking for help can matter as much as having the strongest attack. Each player will have an individual Session 0.5 prologue. Your character begins at level 1 and reaches level 3 during that prologue. This gives us time to establish who the character was before meeting the party, introduce some people from their life, and let their early abilities come from something that actually happened. Players will also be able to contribute up to three notable NPCs from their character’s history. Families, former allies, rivals, mentors, employers, and faction connections can become part of the living world. I will work directly with you before using major personal material. Your backstory matters, but it will not be used as permission to do whatever I want to your character. Mechanically, we will use the 2024 rules as our foundation. Approved 2014 material and options from the Planeshifted Guide to Rabiah may supplement them. Rabiah has nine primary playable peoples, including Humans, Ogres, Genasi, Merfolk, Bird Maidens, Goblins, Viashino, Minotaurs, and Brass Men. Other Magic species may also work if we can give the character a believable place in the setting. This is meant to be a cooperative campaign. Characters can disagree, keep secrets, have selfish goals, and make questionable decisions. They still need a reason to travel together and care about what happens to the rest of the party. PvP will only happen when everyone directly involved agrees to it outside the game. Because this is a long campaign, attendance matters. We will normally play if one person is absent, with their character handled carefully as an NPC. If two or more players cannot attend, the campaign session will be canceled or rescheduled. Campaign audio will be recorded so I can privately transcribe sessions and keep accurate notes. The recordings are not for streaming, a podcast, or public release. Players must be comfortable with that arrangement, and recording can be paused whenever somebody needs to discuss something personal or private. If you are interested, fill out an application! I am not looking for the person with the most D&D experience or the most detailed character pitch. I am mainly looking for people who communicate, share the spotlight, care about the world, and are genuinely interested in staying with a long campaign. The start date can happen when we find a compatiable crew! I will speak with interested players individually before choosing the final group.