Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E (2024)
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Moonsetter: A Project Moon D&D 5.5e Mini-Campaign
M Corp. Residing in District 13 of the City, and the pinnacle of mental and psychological care. Nowhere else will you find psychologists and therapists more qualified. Whether you're suffering from run-of-the-mill struggles, serious mental health conditions, or something more esoteric, you will find no better treatment than within one of M Corp's mental care institutions.
…If you're well off, that is. The Backstreet slums of District 13, as is typical for all districts, doesn't get to taste the fruits of its parent corp's labour. Mental health services in the Backstreets are underfunded, neglected, and ineffective for dealing with the City's ails—with one exception.
Moonsetter Clinic, founded by an ex-researcher of M Corp, seeks to bring the cutting edge of mental care to the people who most need it. Since its establishment three months ago, it has become a venerated, almost sacred institution to the Backstreets residents. Dozens of people each day walk into the complex, and walk out changed for the better. Even some of the Five Fingers have taken notice, and gone as far as to enforce it as neutral ground exempt from their bloody turf wars. It is a bona fide miracle.
You don't buy it. Oh, you had your suspicions before: nothing that good ever graces the Backstreets without some strings attached. But there's also a personal reason behind your mistrust. You know someone—friend or family, colleague or simple acquaintance—who is a frequent patient of this place, and they recently went for their usual check-up. Maybe you even accompanied them to the lobby. It's been days, and they haven't returned.
Your suspicion turned to surety. You quickly came across others who shared your experience, banded together, and decided. There is something rotten about Moonsetter Clinic, and you are all going to get to the bottom of it.
Introduction
Hi there! I am Nope (22, he/they). I hail from the far-off land of New Zealand, and I've been playing and running TTRPGs for close to 9 years now—mainly D&D 5e and 5.5e, but I've also dabbled in other systems like Pf2e and Lancer as well. I am also, as the title might indicate, a big Project Moon fan! This mini-campaign was made to combine two of the interests nearest to my heart, and is hopefully the start of a larger anthology of adventures set in the City.
If you're not aware, Project Moon is a Korean indie game studio that creates games set in The City: a cyberpunk dystopia with fantasy elements. Life is cheap, violence is banal and commonplace, and corporation rule unchecked. In terms of vibes, think office workers in suits or streetwear fighting with store-bought swords and back-alley augmentation procedures, living paycheck to paycheck. Familiarity with this setting is not required for this mini-campaign; the plot will be pretty self-contained and won't make many references to the wider Project Moon canon.
Details
- System: D&D 5.5e, with some homebrew to adapt it to Project Moon's setting. The necessary homebrew is actually quite light (just 9ish pages) thanks to the City arguably borrowing more from high fantasy than conventional sci-fi in its worldbuilding; thus, the majority of translation is in reflavouring abilities and classes rather than bespoke custom rules. You can take a peek at the homebrew I plan to use here.
- Level: Probably around 5-7, to be discussed with players during Session 0. Level-up is unlikely, given that this is a single adventure.
- Time: Sunday 2pm fortnightly, GMT+12. Sessions will run from 3-4 hours.
- Starting Date: My goal is to hold Session 0 sometime in early-mid October!
- Length: 4-6 sessions, as a very rough estimate. More likely to be longer than shorter.
- Players Needed: 4-5
- Platform: Foundry for VTT, Discord for communication
Requirements
- Age 18+
- Have a decent mic and a stable internet connection.
- Have some decent experience with D&D 5e or 5.5e, or be willing to learn quickly.
- Be willing to be earnestly invested in the campaign, and in each other's characters.
- Be prompt and timely in showing up to sessions; give advance notice of a few days if you're not able to make it.
- Don't be a bigot or an asshole.
- No use of generative AI; I'm not a fan.
Further Considerations
- This is an LGBTQ+ friendly table! If you're not comfortable with that, go elsewhere.
- The following topics will be covered: classism, mental health, medical malpractice, slight body horror.
- The campaign will likely have a focus on combat and social interaction, with limited exploration.
- This campaign is intended to be serious, but not misery porn! There will be ample space for jokes, light-hearted moments, and goofiness in general.
- Combat difficulty will aim for 'challenging but fair'. I'm not interested in playing every encounter absolutely optimally; enemies will act based on their personalities, goals, and the current situation. As a DM, my priority is for combat to be fun and engaging, while still maintaining actual stakes—notably, this means non-zero chances of character death.
- The setting of the campaign is not perfectly 1-to-1 with the Project Moon setting, due to D&D's mechanics and structure. The biggest divergence from canon is that magic as it works in D&D exists in the City and is well-understood and utilized as just one of many pathways to gain power, alongside technology, augmentations, and sheer competence.
- Project Moon's stories are very character-focused, with emphasis on personal trauma, character growth, and facing your fears to achieve self-actualization. Include the word sun somewhere in your application. While the scope of this mini-campaign means there probably won't be much in the way of formative character arcs and development, I want to keep that focus on character-driven personal stories that Project Moon is known for.
- My hope is to run this mini-campaign and others like it (some set in the City, some with their own bespoke settings) to build a community of like-minded players, with whom I hope to establish a long-term TTRPG gaming group!
- I am technically a Project Moon larper LMAO (haven't played any of the games, got into it purely through watching playthroughs and wiki-diving)
Applying
If you want to apply, fill out this form! Once I gather enough respondents, I will shortlist a number of potential players and schedule interviews with them over voice call on Discord. After that, I will select 4-5 players to invite to a Session 0, and hopefully from there the campaign will begin!