#campaign summaries

[ashmcgivern]

Aiben: The Great Hunt (Context)

HELLO and welcome to the segment where I summarize the D&D campaign I play in on Saturdays to the best of my ability. Actually, after this post, I plan on posting my PC Zeal's journal instead, since it's already written out and it'll be less work for me.

It's worth noting that the DM aims to create a sourcebook for the setting! Our campaign is heavily modified to suit our PCs needs and so the final sourcebook will be pretty different, but I've got his blessing to share a certain amount of info. Some information will be left vague our out entirely to keep the ~mystery~ of the campaign's "answers"

The wall of text is below the cut - this first one is gonna be mostly PC descriptions so we can get that context out of the way. Enjoy!

Also, if you'd like to see all content relating to this campaign/world, including art, be sure to look at my Aiben tag.

The adventure starts in the continent of Aiben in the capitol of Averias, where a hunt for an ancient and powerful metal known as Morphirium is being sponsored by the current king, Swesdon Wolfram. The Morphirium, once on display as an "art piece" 499 years ago, is the largest singular piece of the element currently known to humanoid kind, and is absolutely filled to the brim with arcane power and magical potential. The event is huge, requiring prior registration and paperwork, for a total of 100 teams participating in this hunt. The winners of this event take home 1 million gold pieces.

The last team to slip into registration, Team 100, consists of Eddisar of the Long Sight, his two grandchildren Makera Flintbreaker and Zeal Eddison, their friend Peanut, and two employees of some of Edd's old friends - Ursa Ironsand and Traverse. Later in the adventure, Atache, Slythe, and one other secret (for now) PC joins the party.

Player Characters

Eddisar of the Long Sight - Tiefling, M, ?? (Lore Bard)

A kind old man, an archeologist and historian. Long winded, gets lost in himself and his thoughts fairly often. Has seen most of the world and has an infinite number of stories to tell. He dresses plainly with no armor or weapons. His most peculiar feature is his right arm, which is clearly replaced by a branch he can control like a normal hand.

Edd is the de facto leader of the group, having signed everyone up for the contest, but takes a very relaxed approach to directing the group. He's keen on being more a resource to the party than being a hard and fast leader.

Makera Flintbreaker - Tiefling, F, 22 (Champion Fighter)

A tough young woman who's hard to impress. She is blunt and doesn't like to get caught up in details, opting for simpler solutions to complex problems. She is a boxer in a local league, and is hoping to go nationally pro someday like her mother, Bulana, was. She has an insane sweet tooth, an addiction to puzzles, and is inseparable from her cousin, Zeal.

Zeal Eddison - Tiefling, M, 23 (Celestial Warlock)

A bright-eyed enthusiastic young man with a headlong, heart-first sort of personality. He's a school teacher, but wants to go to university to study Planar Physics. In the absence of money to go to school, he consumes just about every book he can get his hands on. He endured an intense tragedy as a child where he met Xanthanel, a Solar that looks after him like a son. He's inseparable from his cousin, Makera.

Peanut - Tabaxi, M, 50s (Open Sea Paladin)

A HUGE, gruff, well built Tabaxi sailor. He is a gentle soul trapped in a war tank of a body. Spent a lot of his life in the Collesian Islands working as a boatswain, where some of the best sailors in the world exist. He's a tank and a force to be reckoned with, but also gives the best big kitty hugs. He has a taste for cheese, and collects/consumes wheels at an alarming rate. He is looking for his uncle, Sherbert, who went missing recently and left behind a puzzle box Peanut believes will lead them to him.

Ursa Ironsand - Desert Stormfolk, F, 16 (Sanity Cleric)

A short, kind and mellow elemental. Always stressed, but wears it well, keeps a level head and exudes "mom energy." She comes from a long family line of smiths, but isn't a very skilled one herself. She used to work at the "Forbidden Pit" in the middle of the desert, where nothing really happened, until one day she started having crazy dreams. Her boss suggested going on this this trip as a 'working vacation.' She is, well and truly, a disaster lesbian.

*Stormfolk are a custom race and Sanity Clerics are a custom class, making Ursa 100% homebrew material. Stormfolk commonly only live to be about 35, maxing out at about 45, making Ursa well and firmly an adult.

Traverse - Half Elf, M, 30s (Battle Master Fighter)

A slightly unkempt half elf, with chains around his wrist dressed in ratted armor. Once a guard for Agaras, became disenchanted with the world and realized he really only liked being a guard for the thrill of the fight. He's since gotten himself in a myriad of trouble and was sentenced to prison, but on his mentor's good word he's been given one last chance to redeem himself - help Eddisar on this quest, and he can go free on good behavior.

Atache - Warforged, NB/M, ??? (Eloquence Bard)

A flamboyant as FUCK warforged, a bit thin and gangly, absolutely not built for battle. Always ready to meet with the upper crust even though they've been long removed from their previous station. Enjoys fashion, but cant afford the newest things, so he makes do and calls it ~vintage~. They enjoy the finer things in life, and is a phenomenal cook. The party met up with them when they first visit the Wintering Isles.

Slythe - Yuan-Ti, M, 20s?? (Armorer Artificer)

Sassy as hell and not one for niceties, Slythe is a no-nonsense fashion designer. He aims to create articles of clothing that are both highly fashionable and highly functional for adventurers. He takes incredible pride in his work and is always looking for new sources of inspiration, and new people to model his designs. An NPC named Elana stole a dress he was working on with her, and in a fit of rage joined our party to get it back, take revenge, and also field test some fashionable armor he made for the party.

Mystery Character - COMING SOON

[undead-knick-knack]

It still counts as leaving no witnesses if no one's left alive

[revvethasmythh]

spot the difference

[neatokeanosocks]

I respect Rebel Moon's sole purpose of showing us funky sci fi settings. I just think The Croods did it better.

[fangirl-nadir]

I am VERY behind on Critical Role, but I've been loosely following the most recent goings-on and I'm kinda surprised nobody's mentioned how Orym is responding to everything that happened. Maybe he didn't have a response, but considering how much he's lost, I imagine losing both FCG and Chetney would destroy him. His family was brutally ripped from him, it sent him down a path of pain and vengeance. And just when he learned how to love again he lost his new family to a similar evil.

I feel like this could set Orym down a really fascinating path. I'm very interested to see how the next few episodes play out for him.

[blorbologist]

... hey whats with the sudden rash of white af Vex art. who fucking bleached her

[ceruleanfuckup]

I'm so excited for my D&D campaign

[ookamimonster]

Can you tell us how your dragon campaign works? I would absolutely love to run one but i have no idea how haha

Hello Anon! With pleasure :)

For the past four-ish years, I've been running a dnd 5e campaign (homebrew) for my friends - you can see most of the art I've done for it under Warden Campaign . It finished up in February this year with an epic final battle - there's still a few loose plot threads that we'll probably tie up in some epilogue sessions, but for the most part it's completed.

The rough 'hook' of the campaign so to speak was that a bunch of powerful chromatic dragons (and their allies) banded together and waged a war against humanity, where they came out the ultimate winners. They carved up the spoils amongst themselves (the continent, named Ward'en) and created their own little empires - this particular tale focuses on three of those dragons, Vor'aal (green), Veruxam (Red) and Grirhyn (Blue). Upon the conclusion of the war, Vor'aal and Grirhyn turned against their ally Veruxam, killing him and seizing his share of the spoils for themselves and they both settle down for a life of dictatorship and tyranny.

The main story of the campaign takes place roughly a century after these events - the player characters are captured and imprisoned by Vor'aal (and her partner Grirhyn) and they realise the dragon queens are involved in some greater plot to seize god-like powers for themselves and take over the rest of the continent that they didn't get in the war. The player characters then escape and spend the rest of the story uncovering the extent of their plot and trying to get strong enough to fight the dragons directly. There's also a very important plot about some dragon gods that lived a long long time ago and left a bunch of very powerful magical artefacts around which the players tried to prevent from falling into the hands of the modern day dragons, with mixed success. They are aided in their goals by the very pissed off ghost of Veruxam (who spends half the story haunting a weapon and corrupting its wielder and ultimately possessing said player character for a good period of time in order to engage in some resurrection business) and various NPC's of both of the draconic and non-draconic variety.

That's a very simple and short breakdown of the overarching "main" plot of the campaign and the copious amounts of dragons within it - if you had any further questions I would be happy to yap about my d&d campaign any day of the week.

[fundingforecast]

Weekly campaigns review!As usual - I will be more than happy to hear your voice and suggestions for what should I add in the next week review :) 

Here is the weekly crowdfunding summary with the best products from Kickstarter and Indiegogo from the past week!

As usual - I will be more than happy to hear your voice and suggestions for what should I add in the next week review :) 

[tsunamiholmes]

What is "The Scarlet Owl Tavern" anyway?

I'm so glad you asked. Oh, what's that? You've never heard of The Scarlet Owl Tavern? Well that's okay too, this post is to explain what my little area of Toonkind D&D looks like, since a lot of people have been gaining exposure to our universe through the recent train/conductor polls that feature our most iconic character, The Engineer.

Ever since I joined The Drafthouse (where Toonkind games are centralized) people made jokes about my toony nature and "inhuman luck". In fact, it got to a point where I was being compared to "that one NPC who runs a tavern and knows everyone".

It started as an inside joke with my sona being "D&D-ified" to fit a tavernkeeper-style design that people could reference in their Toonkind games, but people started to catch on and make tavern designs for their own sonas, and eventually I caved and actually played in a game as myself.

Cut to over a year later, where we've held around 40 games in The Scarlet Owl Tavern as our sonas and built some incredible lore. Those games can be found here:

THE SCARLET OWL TAVERN GAME PLAYLIST

What is The Scarlet Owl Tavern, then? What do we do in it? What's it like?

The Scarlet Owl Tavern primarily is filled with the players' personas, some of which are modified versions to fit the D&D/Toonkind setting, and others which still resemble the original sona design.

There's a lot of 4th wall breaking and meta shenanigans that go on, including referencing AUs and even speaking to the players directly.

There's found family (because what's a Toonkind plot without it?)

There are multiple weird entities that hang around, one of the most mysterious being "The Defect". No one has ever seen him, but some have heard his voice in their heads.

An 8-headed horrible goose named Harold runs the kitchen because Chloe the Tavernkeeper cannot cook to save her life.

There's apples.

There's a broom closet that has a secret door to a second, hidden bar that's called The Broom Closet.

There is a lot of chaos and goofs, and the tavern has been threatened to burn to the ground more than once.

The plot revolves around our sonas figuring out what makes them unique (hint: they're all sonas) and why there seems to be weird entities lurking around the place. Also Chloe seems to know more than she should... and she also has a lot of enemies from her past that keep turning up.

Overall, The Scarlet Owl Tavern is a fantastic place where people can have fun just being themselves in a fictional setting where anything is possible! Yes, D&D sonas might seem a bit cringe on the surface, but by gods they're a delight to play.

I hope you enjoyed reading a little about what my creative outlet has been for the past year and consider listening to one or two of the games that have taken place in my tavern!

The Scarlet Owl Tavern wiki page can be found here.

Chloe the Tavernkeeper's wiki page can be found here.

[pixelmator5]

Laudna’s Lack of Control

You know what, why the heck not, part 1 of 6 of a may or may not be finished group of posts about CR3 EP63 and its effects on the 6 PCs (yes including the one that died.)

Laudna’s been through a lot, and that’s putting it lightly. All her life, she has experienced a lack of control. When she was young, no one viewed her like an actual person, no one around her at least. We see and hear about how a boy her age when she was young attempted to lure her into a sense of security before throwing dirt in her face. He was likely not the only one who did this. When she was young, she had no control over the social life, or the way the rest of the townspeople of Whitestone viewed her.

Then the Briarwoods came. Whether the townspeople knew how they did it or not, they took the place of the previous leaders of the once peaceful city. Once again, Laudna, at that time Matilda, was forced to watch as her home gradually declined under the Briarwoods rule, unable to do a thing to stop it. She had natural magical capabilities, but even they wouldn’t help in this situation.

Eventually Whitestone was in such disrepair that nothing could be done. Matilda begged her parents to leave the city, but without to funds or anywhere to stay once they left, the group of three were left to rot in the dying town. Once again she had a total lack of control. Until a letter came. The Briarwoods had invited her family to dinner. Finally, a way for her to take control of something. She had hoped that they would take an interest in her innate magical abilities, teach her how to use them, make her stronger! She’d finally have control over something in her life!

That was 30 years ago.

She died that day, at that dinner. She was skeptical about going in the first place, but her parents had talked her into it. Practically forced her. Once again, she suffered from her lack of control.

When she awoke hanging from the tree she thought it was the gods giving her a second chance, a way for her finish the life the Briarwoods had cut short. But her body was changed. Her skin was cold to the touch, her eyes constantly seemed to be bulging from her head. Her bones dislocated easier, her hair fell out in clumps, it was as if she was still dead. Then the voices started. Well, voice, Delilah Briarwood was in her head, but Matilda, if that was even still her name at this point didn’t want that. Control. The thing she still lacked.

Eventually, she met Imogen, she helped, she understood what it was like, being ostracized, not having control of what people think of you or the control over your own power, and eventually, they met Bell’s Hells, a ragtag group of nobodies banded together with little to no common ground between them. But she liked them, and together with Imogen they decided to stay.

Delilah’s has been living in the woman now named Laudna’s head for 30 years now. Advising her, empowering her, controlling her. Laudna knew she had to get rid of her. She didn’t want her there. But this came to a front when something happened. Delilah took complete control, took something, shattered something, she caused Laudna to betray Imogen. Laudna’s tether, Laudna’s friend, the one who wasn’t afraid of her. She took Laudna’s feeling of safety, to control she had in this small part of the world.

When Laudna died she became a prisoner to Delilah in her own personal hell. Fitting that the one who originally took her life tormented her in her afterlife, reminding her of all the things that had happened prior to her original death. When the Hells came to rescue her, Laudna was happy, she knew she would be safe. When Imogen told her to fight back, Laudna said she couldn’t. That it was up to Imogen and the hells. She relinquished control, she left it all up to the others, knowing they would help her. This was the only time where she was fine without the control being held in her hands.

When Laudna awoke next she was in Whitestone, seemingly Delilah free. At least that’s what the gnomish woman told her. Releasing control finally did something good, at least this time. So she continued travelling with the group. They uncovered secrets, revealed a conspiracy... they were separated. She thought she was doing something good, ignoring the speech and continuing to try and damage the Malleus Key, but it didn’t work, and control was stripped from her once again as she was teleported halfway across the world with no way to get back, once again separated from Imogen.

When the party met Bor’Dor after the split she thought it was great, another person like her and Imogen with seemingly no control over their magic or what has happened in their life. But eventually, things started to seep through the cracks. It started with the guards at the temple, it almost seemed like he knew what he was doing. But surely that was just Laudna’s imagination, he was on their side afterall, he had no reason to lie, right? She offered to help teach him how to use his magic, help him control it, like she had learned to do... but it was all a lie. Well, maybe not all of it, but enough of it... and he tried to kill them.

Laudna was distraught, she was sure he was telling the truth, but he betrayed her, he took what little control she had around her and he took it himself, manipulating it to his own will and she just could not handle being manipluated again. Manipulated by someone she trusted just like she was manipulated by Delilah, and losing her sense of control all over again...

And there it was, there was her chance. Deni$e had restrained him, he was so easy to get to, she could take her control back from him... and she did. With the same low heartbeat that was there when she took the gnarlrock from Imogen and broke it in her grasp... she had her control if only for that brief moment where she and she alone got to decide if he lived or died... but what will be the cost?

Laudna until this point had never been able to control anything in her life. How others perceived her, the trauma she’s had to go through. Her death, and rebirth. Delilah forcing her way into Laudna’s mind. Nothing, until she had complete and total control over someone who until recently had his own form of control over the others, and she takes it 

[undead-knick-knack]

When all you want are snuggles but all you keep getting are struggles

[revvethasmythh]

it feels like it took a decade to finish this, but I did it, it's done

My nearly 8k contribution to the Relvin/Vandran faction of the fandom, coming in much later than I hoped it would (but finished, finally, nonetheless)

[vanhelsingapologist]

Hey! Hows your game going? Mine just did the first 2 bits of the interactive tome and loved it and next session is the Dinner!!

I’m so glad to hear it! We just finished the second bit of the Interactive Tome and it was pretty crazy. Kick your players’ asses at the dinner. Turn that social pressure up. Reveal knowledge Strahd couldn’t possibly know about their backstories. Hurt them.

How Our Game Is Going

The short answer is: bad.

The longer answer is that the Tatyana PC (me) went to Ravenloft for three days in exchange for Strahd sparing the life of our bloodhunter, who then subsequently got himself killed by trying to stop Leo from being taken (and likely re-killed) by Strahd. We met the Abbot who wanted her soul. Not good! Our changeling got a new eye from the Abbot. Very cool!

Our druid/fighter changeling is spying for Strahd and went along with my PC to get some cred from Ravenloft for being able to convince her to go + is also pursuing a romance with Rahadin. We both switched to our backup characters because my DM wanted us to both play, still!

Highly recommend making a backup for all Tatyana PCs. HIGHLY.

So I am once again playing Emilia! Been convincing Kasimir that she can be fixed (she cannot) and convincing Victor that his tenure as Baron of Vallaki is super temporary (it is not).

She’s supposed to be Frankensteining Dmitry Krezkov’s wife back to life but she had a breakdown after finding out her actual parentage so consequently, Kasimir’s got her on a leash so she can’t be Dr. Malpractice. Their relationship is becoming so sad. I’m suffering so bad.

Blood moon next session, though.

[ravendruid]

I might have ACCIDENTALLY thrown a hot evil guy at my party who might have tried to flirt his way out of a situation.

We've heard of the Bard seducing the Dragon trope, but what if the Dragon tried to seduce the Bard instead?

[virtue-works]

Project R.I.: A summary

Project R.I. - Project Restore Interdico

This is the name of a top secret government program to explore, discover, and ultimately restore a newly found cavern that lay beneath the depths of Specto*. At least that is what they expected when the area was first discovered, but instead of a mere cavern, an expanse of unknown size was found to be waiting for them. The collective government of Virtue* dubbed this area "Interdico*" and sent a team of people comprised from both states* to find out what they could, this was team Alpha.

After 2 weeks radio contact was entirely lost.

The contents of team Alpha's communications are kept completely hidden along with the very existence of Interdico and the project itself. Only select few are privy to any sort of information regarding the project.

A year has passed since team Alpha's disappearance and the collective governments of Virtue* have been scrambling to put together a new team, this will be team Bravo. The purpose of this second team is to find out what happened to the first and, if possible, recover the missing people/equipment as well as continuing team Alpha's mission of discovery. This is where the players will come in, the campaign is built to run with 5 players, they are not currently set in stone.

The people of team Bravo were hand picked for this project for a number of reasons, the most important of which follows: They had to be experts in a field useful for the project, they had to be unknown enough that they will not be missed while on the mission, and they must have minimal political affiliations(with some exception). These three requirements were of utmost importance when finding suitable people. Of course, these scouted people will receive great rewards for their cooperation.

Team Bravo, when put together, will meet for the first time before descending into the unknown Interdico*. Besides some basic training and a bit more information that will be revealed later, the facts above are all that they're given regarding the project. They have no idea what they're in for.

*Virtue, Specto, Interdico

These are the names of regions. Virtue is the country this takes place in. More detailed information about Virtue as a whole will be available later. Specto is one of 2 states that make up Virtue, the other one being Audite. Audite resides above ground while Specto lies below. There is great animosity between the two states. Interdico is the area of unknown size and origin that is below Specto. More region info will be available later.

Thank you for reading,

-VirtueWorks