Description
Hello, I’m Richard, 33, from the UK, and have DM’d for nearly 6 years and am looking for 1 more player to join a new group I’ve made. This is a homebrew world.
About the game world:
Aurelis is a homebrew world I made by smashing Forgotten Realms, World of Warcraft, and my own ideas into a blender, with fair amounts of stealing from Dragon Age, Fate/Stay Night, and Northern Lights. Broadly, it is an age-of-exploration fantasy. Plate armour, horses, ships with cannons, pistols and muskets, and the rise of organised religion conflicting with traditional pantheon beliefs. The Netherese Empire fell, and since then, while large empires formed to the south and west, a large region has struggled with monsters and instability and remains fragmented. Level 5 characters are considered serious figures; above level 7 is extremely rare. Map for reference:
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It has 17 species split into 30 different groups – I’ve worked hard to try and ensure no-one are humans in fur-suits, and instead have distinct mechanical, narrative, and biological differences. All elves are addicted to magic and must sate this addiction in different ways; Kanami only feel emotion through their Netherese masks; Riksha have primal urges they desperately try to keep under control, for example. Here is a snapshot of them – currently, I’ve drawn 20 of the images here:
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Story
Protected from the turbulent waters of the Malestrom, the sea of Rashemi should provide warm, safe harbour to those around it. However, the most powerful – The Bowline and Rashemi – have great interest in ensuring it remains unstable. Rashemi is sometimes seen as the centre of Aurelis, an untamed land free from the influence of empires squabbling over land and the laws they impose. And it used this freedom to take it from others, for here was an immense basin to which much of the slave trade poured in. Many would sell across these shores, where they were either bought by Razachai, or sent on to join the main arteries of it, where they would be auctioned and sent off, often southward into the ever-hungry Summeril. In the last couple of decades, two individuals made remarkable progress in sealing these arteries; now, slavery is officially outlawed and is increasingly seen as a horror and abomination of Summeril. But those who profited from it haven’t gone away, just driven more underground, awaiting the moment these two figures fall.
Piracy here is rampant, often venturing out to prey on the ships of the coast, but happily striking the vessels that do not pay within the sea itself. It is centred on the city of The Bowline, and 3 pirate lords have carved it up between themselves. Each balances the others, unable to stand against the other 2, but it would take little to tip the balance of power.
The Floran – a small savage race from the Feywild – are proliferating, and have managed to go from the coast to the islands and take them over. A figure, known only as Mistreaver, has become a dangerous force in the region – mist covers an area, and once it recedes, everyone within has disappeared. And ships from across the sea – from the Summeril Empire in the south, and the Kavraaki Kaorazate in the west – have begun prowling here. No one knows why, but it certainly won’t be in their interests two let these two empires in.
The adventure starts at level 2, and swiftly leads to the party acquiring a ship. Act 1 would focus more on Mistreaver and building up your ship – getting important NPCs for it to function – while going on adventures.
Changes I’ve made
I find DND a wonderful system with a huge number of flaws due to WotC’s lack of attention, and I’ve spent the last few years trying to fix them. I've run and tested most of these rules already; all I've done is streamline them from my previous game:
Different Skills. There are 20 different skills, deleting rarely used ones and adding new ones – so for example, Performance is out, Medicine is a tool, religion and history merged into Lore, and I've added skills such as Mastermind and Discipline. Skills have listed examples, DCs, and expected outcomes for things they can do, to try and remove the Mother May I part of non-casters – you can play as normal, but you have those to hold my feet to the fire on what your skill lets you do. Skills are much more impactful. Tools, which I call professions, are much more impactful too, especially during travel and downtime (but still ignorable).
New Charisma Skills. All the charisma skills are out, replaced with Charm, Inspire, Pressure, Manipulate, Reason, and Network. Everything is a form of persuasion in conversation – HOW you do it should be more important. Your charming rogue, manipulating spymaster, eloquent senator, and commanding captain should all feel different in how they persuade you.
Social Pillar has Actual Rules. I have a social system because I wanted that side to be interesting. It was designed so that players could just roleplay while I have a system to track rolls – my previous players’ review of it was glowing and asked for it to return.
All of the above is a long way of saying “I like Skill Challenges and I use that system for everything outside of combat”
New (optional) Classes. I have WoW-inspired custom classes, which my players playtested and enjoyed (the Agent [WoW's rogue] had 3 years of weekly playtesting). You’re welcome to disregard and use base 2024 classes, except for cleric and sorcerer, which don’t jive in my world enough. Martial classes in particular will feel outshined by mine, though. There are custom spells, lots more choices, 2 masteries per weapon, and for martials, 5th-level-spell equivalent techniques at level 9. I’ve tried to ensure every common trope, from blood magic to the inquisitor, has a fulfilling home – and have made new subclasses to support specific fantasies. Regardless of official or not, no multiclassing.
Piety. There is a piety system, but going from -10 to +10, because +50 seems like a lot of tracking. Each tier (+2, +4, +8) has its own choice of 4 rewards. Believing in a god is non-negotiable, but you can have a patron be the thing tracked instead, even for non-warlocks. This world divides species between Kyth and Kythless, those with gods and those without, as their dividers of sapience. The kythless are considered monsters.
No resurrection, no revivify – people die when they are killed.
There are critical successes and failures, and I’ve split exhaustion into exhaustion and stress, which go up to 10.
I have a simplified inventory system using bulk, so you have to choose what you’re taking, taking primary inspiration from Darkest Dungeon.
My drive file of everything is here, almost all of which is now on Foundry (just missing subclasses, which I’m porting over as people choose them):
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Expected Gameplay Loop
We’ll be playing using a variation of gritty realism – you short rest each day while at sea or travelling; you can long rest at safe harbours; and if you have more than 2 stress or exhaustion, you’ll need to spend a week recovering in downtime.
Expect the following gameplay loop, which is inspired by Darkest Dungeon:
Step 1: The Chosen Task – deciding what you will do next.
Step 2: preparation. The party prepares – getting books or costumes, buying rations and antitoxins, getting a map, etc.
Step 3: Travel – I use hexgrid-like travel, where each person chooses a role for the day, and either nothing happens; a hazard happens (skill check or a penalty), or a possible good thing appears (skill check).
Step 4: The dungeon – this might be an actual dungeon, or a heist, or a socialite party, etc.
Step 5: The escape. How much loot are you willing to try and carry, versus rations, potions etc.
Step 6: Recover. Selling items, resting, planning next adventure.
What I want from players
I want players who want and engage in a serious world, making serious decisions that will change the world around them. People who want to see chaos or have the dice make their decisions for them are valid, but not the group I want to play with.
Players who want difficult fights. I am very good at monster and boss design, which take cues from WoW bosses. Expect telegraphed attacks, movement, soft enrages, and using the environment. In my 6 years, I have not lost a single player character, but they are often difficult and require them to think and engage with it. I subscribe to the Brennan Lee Mulligan’s approach to difficulty, which is: I want your characters to succeed, but I’ll be damned if you don’t earn it. I am much less interested in fights that aren’t a challenge and don’t tie to the story (while travelling, I’ve made them skill checks so we aren’t bogged down)
Players who care – or their characters care – about civilians dying. Avoiding this should be significant motivation, and when in combat, avoiding it should be a significant mechanic to consider.
People who turn up week after week on time.
Communication! Almost all problems can be resolved through good communication.
What players will get from me:
Someone who will do everything to help tie your character into the world, and will collaborate with you to do so. I’m willing to rejig my world to make your idea work – want a Kanami character from a noble family, but none exist in this region? I’ll change or add a city to make it happen. Got a subclass idea that doesn’t fit anything? I’ll make a new subclass. I’ve already been adding places onto the map from player’s feedback.
You will almost certainly get your character drawn eventually down the line if you want an anime-style avatar.
I am very good at making encounters and boss fights; good at threading storylines together, and according to my previous players, at designing things. Mechanically, you should have a good time at least!
I will ensure, with your support, that your character and NPCs you make are tied to the world and story, even if not immediately apparent.
Player information
Our fourth dropped out without a word just before session zero, so we have completed that. We have a Wizard, a barbarian, and a Hunter (ranger that shoots magic arrows). I’m happy to balance around whatever the group has (my last group was 4 melee DPS and a warlock, not a healing spell between them, and I didn’t lose anyone), but it’ll probably better for everyone if your character has a different spotlight.
Our session zero notes are here:
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Campaign information:
The campaign will be from level 2-10. I am comically bad at judging timespans, but it would be three acts, and I’d expect around a year long.
We’ll be playing 19:00-23:30 GMT every Saturday – however, if it needs to be adjusted a little bit earlier or later, we can all accommodate that, as long as the session ends at the same time or earlier.
We will be playing online on Foundry and have a Discord server, as that has automated a lot of my nonsense. Foundry continues to fight me, so things might turn up in a session for me to troubleshoot by next session – please bear with me.
18+ please.
I have no expectation of experience level – just willingness to learn (most of the drive isn’t required reading either!). I was reminding my last players they have 2 attacks 4 years into that campaign, so I am patient and helpful if you’re making the attempt! I think the most sessions anyone in this group has played is 6, so if you’re inexperienced, you’re in good company!
If you're interested, please message me who you are; why you want to join / what interested you about the campaign; any questions you have; anything in the session zero notes you would like to add (e.g. I wouldn’t want X in the game; I’d really like to have Y encounter to play through, Z is a veil/red line for me, etc).
I hope you have a good day! I know I've frontloaded a lot here, but I'd rather everyone have a good idea of what to expect.