[Closed, Waitlist OK] Without Benefit of Compass

✅ The Game System and Rules Version. D&D 5E. Note that once the new Monster Manual comes out in February of 2025, we will finish whatever chapter of the story we're on and then the game will convert to 5.5E. Expect a 4-6 week hiatus at that time.

✅ The Pitch. Hopefully self-explanatory from the note above, but the PCs will be acquaintances of Provos who have recently endeared themselves to him, and he will commission them to visit the Baron as a result.

✅ Adult Content or Controversial Themes. Some. The country that the game takes place in is an oligarchic monarchy, and for reasons that are unlikely to become very clear unless the PCs dig deep into it, gnomes have been enslaved by this society for approximately six hundred years. It also has a tendency, as most monarchies do, to lean heavily towards favoring the nobility at the expense of the commoners. Most of this is likely to remain just a casual backdrop and I don't intend the game itself to have much in the way of Adult Content, but you players have an unnerving habit of deciding on your own what the themes of the game are ultimately going to be and I'm very "anything goes" with my players, so best to just assume that the game (or at least areas of it) will need to be private.

✅ Character Restrictions.
PHB Classes and Races, except no halflings (as far as anyone knows, they don't exist anymore) and no gnome PCs (see above, re: slavery).

We'll be starting at Level 2, you get starting equipment plus an extra 120gp to spend as you see fit.

In case it matters for the purposes of your long-term planning, there are a few things you need to know about my campaign world:

1) Teleportation Magic Doesn't Work - There is an IC reason for this and who knows, maybe you guys will be the ones to fix it someday, but for now, it is what it is. Incoming extraplanar summoning and conjuration work fine, but any attempt to teleport from one part of the planet to another, be it the few hundred feet of a Dimension Door or the trans-continental travel of a true Teleport spell, fails outright. Some mages have tried just Plane Shifting twice, on the logic that if extraplanar summoning works, they should just be able to Plane Shift to a different spot on the planet, but no one who has ever tried it has come back, so apparently that doesn't work either.

2) Guns smaller than a ship's cannon do not exist - People in the world understand about gunpowder and they are able to get the reaction to work at large scale, but refining it downward doesn't seem possible. So technically Gunslingers or gun-using Artificers exist, but only amongst the Giants.

3) The world is closer to medieval flavor than "typical" D&D worlds - While not entirely a 14th Century Europe experience, there is fidelity towards some of the concepts inherent in that time period. Literacy is very rare (y'all will be presumed illiterate if your Intelligence scores are lower than 12, and literacy rules in general will lean towards the challenging), patriarchal points of view are still dominant, adulthood comes comparatively quite early, most people don't rise above their station and while prisons do exist, most commoners are more likely to be executed or dismembered for moderate infractions rather than ever see the inside of one. Sexuality and gender identity are enlightened for the commoners but if you're a noble, you have a duty to produce an heir and that duty requires pretentiousness that better be good enough to fool everyone.

4) Life's not fair - This is really important so hear it clearly. Life. Is. Not. Fair. I WILL occasionally throw situations at you where your only survivable option is retreat, and it's not my problem if you try to murder hobo it anyway. This is your only warning to that effect.

✅ Game Duration and Post Frequency. 3/week is the goal post frequency, with DM updates on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. I have enough material to run the game for five years, let's see if we make it that far before we worry about an endgame. ;)

✅ Specialized Software and Resources. Unknown, this will be my first time playing or running a game on this site. As a result, I may need some patience, especially in the beginning. In my former PbP home, I used to run combats "fog of war" style, I may do that here as well but I'll have to really kick the tires with how GP handles things before I make a firm decision on that.

✅ Player Experience Requirements. The game is open to players of all experience levels.

✅ How to Apply. I'll be taking character concepts here on this thread for a few days before I formally make the game. I'll draw 4-7 players from the pool of applicants I see here at that time.

✅ Welcome Marginalized Groups. So... the DM and the game itself are highly open to any members of the human species. I'm pretty big on non-discrimination in real life and I believe very strongly in the inherent worth and self-determination of all human beings. The game world, on the other hand, is full of sexism, speciesism, and most of the other -isms you'd expect from a medieval society.

What do you mean by "fog of war"? Using small battlemaps (there we have a good OnTheFlyBattleMaps integration) or minds eye?: My way of keeping the game from slowing down during combat has always been to have players roll initiative and declare their combat intentions every round in secret text (or GP's equivalent), and then resolve it all in a Main Combat Post. The primary benefit being that people don't have to "wait" to go in initiative order and a full round can happen at the same 3/week rate that regular posts do. It's about as complicated as it sounds, but players who've given it a try have come to embrace it, no major complaints yet.

What is the racial distribution of the free folk? Mostly human, then dwarfs, elves, dragonborn and tieflings? More elves than dwarves, as there's an elven magocracy that shares a border with the country you're starting in, but otherwise that's pretty accurate.

What are the allowed source books? PHB straight up allowed; other sourcebooks are probably fine, but I'd just like the concepts run by me to verify.

Are we using Feats? Yup.

How are stats made (roll, pointbuy, something more exotic) Everyone gets an 18 and a 7, to represent your exceptional nature and the big weakness you're trying to overcome, respectively. The other four stats are determined by roll of 2d6+6.

I am assuming that [the restriction on teleportation magic] includes Misty Step? Yup.

Gods, deities, fey and similar outer entities, how do they work? Like most beings, according to their talents and interests. ;) Seriously though, the pantheon of gods and goddesses is customized and there will be some very basic information publicly available, and some deeper information provided to specific players who choose to worship one.

I'm thinking of a paladin, so are they tied to their oath only, or also a god/godess? Most paladins do swear fealty to a god as well as to their oaths, but it is possible/acceptable to make a paladin that doesn't favor any particular god.

Would you be able to give a bit more insight into the adventure as far as the basic feel of it? I imagine it's going to vary as you progress from one adventure to another. The first adventure is "fantasy mystery" but the only thing I can pretty much guarantee is that the following one won't be.

If this will be converted to 5.5e, wouldn't it be better to just start off by using the latest UA content for character creation? Perhaps there'd be some wisdom to that, but aside from having no idea where the UA content is and being completely unfamiliar with it, I am also learning the nuances of this site for the first time. (The evolution of this post suggests I might be a quick study here, but I still don't know what I don't know so there are no guarantees of that.) I'd rather stay in a more comfortable space with the ruleset for now so I can focus on site mechanics.

Do tieflings even exist in this world? ...Yes? Pretty sure they're listed in that racial distribution question. :)

Are you allowing Variant Human as a race with the starting feat? Yup.

The harvest festival in North Peyxe is the only time of year that the otherwise small village becomes abuzz with unexpected activities. Merchants from all over the region come to get a first crack at purchasing the new crop of renowned Peyxian spices, and those who simply enjoy contests of physical or mental prowess participate in the festival's tournament-style agenda.

While the locals are grateful for the attention and the coin, they do also have traditions to honor - including a ritual pilgrimage up the road to the Olde Crypts, to pay honor to the dead who have come before. The leader of said pilgrimage is chosen by random lottery from amongst all town residents aged twelve and older, and this year, to his chagrin, the tavern keeper's young son has drawn the short straw.

Tradition allows him to choose a certain number of additional escorts to help him with his labors, and of course, the adventurers who have been patronizing the family tavern for days, filling his head with war stories of the lands beyond, seem like the obvious choices...

Healthy=100% Hit Points.
Flesh Wounds=80-99% Hit Points.
Injured=50-79% Hit Points.
Badly Wounded=20-49% Hit Points.
Near Death=1-19% Hit Points.
Disabled=Exact 0 HP, conscious.
Unconscious=-1 or less HP, stable.
Dying=-1 and below HP, bleeding to death.
Dead=-HP or three failed death saves.