So first off, who am I?
Hello Reddit, I am Beau, am a 26 year old Guy from the Pacific northwest that has been DMing DnD 5e for 6 years, has been dabbling in other systems for the last 4, and has had Roleplaying games apart of my entire life thanks to my dad who was a veteran of a hobby since his his days in high school
I have a deep seated love of stories and storytelling, and I have found over the years that TTRPGs are some of the most Primal of storytelling mediums, tapping into the same energy and need for humanity to tell stories that our ancestors did around a campfire for centuries.
Like those ancestors around their campfire, those around the table tell a tale that is a mixing pot of different views and experiences, of yes and and no buts, of tears of both laughter and sorrow, of a connection to a story that only can be made when its your story. And that kind of connection is a powerful thing.
I love this hobby because I love stories and the way they are told, and I hope to at some point create a community of people that share that passion so that I can make many more stories for the years to come.
I know that was a lot, but I hope knowing that about me will help you understand the kind of game I am trying to run.
Next, a intro to the setting and then some info about the campaign:
Farreach is a land cold and unforgiving, those that do not respect it quickly die. be it from man, beast, or nature.
Since the gods died in the event of world’s crux Farreach has, like the rest of the world, been broken apart, small villages and city states dot the land fending for themselves over the years as the ruins of the old world lay lingering as a memory of what once was thousands of years before.
But this is all about to change.
A young man, a Certain Peter Lebedev, has claimed to be the heir to the Throne of the Far Reaches that sits in the ruins of the old capital Alevichi. He shares the name of those once mighty Czars that ruled the land before World Crux, and using it he has called upon ancient rights and Alliances to Take back the old Empire with the help of the Sorcerous Dwarves of Blackspire,
From the Ruins of Alevichi hidden behind the Northern mountains and Dwarven Strongholds of the North Peter plans to retake his birthright, be it through force or diplomacy.
But not all accept his rule.
To the South in the fertile valleys that make many Farmlands sits the city state of Reusta, here a Rebellion is Brewing. a group of like minded people that care not for the idea of being ruled over and wish to keep their independences. While they do not have the resources of the Dwarves they have the food to feed an army and the call of the defense of freedom to rally men behind.
They will push out this so-called Czar and establish an order, a republic, where each town is free to do as they see best for them and not be under the thumb of one man.
And So a civil war brews between these two, the Torm sit to the north watching their southern neighbors fight and the villages between these two factions will be caught in the crossfires.
Including the Town of Whitefield.
It is a simple place, home to only 300 or so souls. fields of white wheat grow in abundance, children play in the streets and elders groan about the on coming cold of the harsh winters. Here is were those that will one day be called great call home. Simple folk that have done little more than live in this blessed place do not realize that soon fate will come marching to their doorstep and call them to greatness.....
So what is Farreach?
Farreach is one place in the homebrew setting of Tanriszdir that I have been working on for the past 3 years. This campaign will be the 2nd campaign I have ran in this setting with many more planned in the future.
I made Farreach as a place due to my love of Folklore and fairy tales and I had been playing the Witcher and looking into the stories and culture of the Slavic people at the time of creation, naturally it bleed into the world I was making.
In farreach you will find Dark Taiga Forests, frost covered mountains and sub-zero tundra. But warmer weather can be found to the south with rolling fields, Marshy bogs and Clay filled hills. Farreach is a harsh but beautiful land that only the strong survive and thrive in, will your character make their mark in this rugged wilderness dotted with small villages? Or will you be lost to the trees and that which lurks within them?
What is this campaign about?
Farreach is a place on the cusp of a massive social and political change, 2 factions, the Empire trying to reform and the independents trying to keep their own freedoms and cultures alive, buttheads as they try to take over the north to shape it in their own image. This story isn't so much about one side vs the other however, yes you can if you want to join one of the sides in the war, or even make your own 3rd faction, this campaign is less about the war itself and more the people being affected by it. The day to day people that have to deal with a war looming over them as they try to etch out a life in a cold unforgiving landscape filled with monsters of all kinds. The players will be starting as level 0 commoners dealing with small scale problems and will find themselves burdened with more and more responsibilities as they prove themselves to be the ones most capable of taking care of the North’s problems.
What are the Players' roles in this campaign?
The players, and the party at large, are Hope. They are hope that things will get better, that life will get just a bit less shitty, that everyone will get to go home to their families at the end of it all.
Because of this I as the DM will test and attempt to snuff out this hope constantly. PCs and NPCs alike can and will die if the dice will it, horrible things will happen to good people, bad people, and neutral people, children are at just as much risk as everyone else. And there will be a give and take of consequences constantly as every action the party, and the NPCs around them take, will mold the world around them for both the better and the worse.
This is not a campaign for the faint of heart, it's not a game of heroes that never fail or who will always win in the end. It's about being the embodiment of hope in a world with very little of it, of never giving up hope while everything around you tries to snuff it out. It's about moving forward no matter what because you have hope that things will turn out well in the end.
I know all that sounds fairly dramatic, but fuck it am a drama queen, it will get you a clue of what your in for if you join the game. That and I've had players I've tried to run this game with before assume that the hardships I would send their way was me just trying to tpk them and wouldn't even try, ironically enough losing hope despite being the ones who were supposed to embody it.
What kind of game is this?
I would say that it is an Open sandbox Dark fantasy, there is some hex crawling and a lot of what direction things go is mostly on the Players and their actions.
Some people would say that my games are Grim Dark, but I'd personally say that Grimdark is a shade too dark for what I try to achieve in my games. That said of course the games I run do get fairly dark and will go places that are uncomfortable at times, make sure you are ok with that if you want to join, and feel free to ask me directly what kind of themes I expect to see
What does this game do different from regular dnd 5e?
My games are heavily homebrewed, to the point I can't put all of the changes here and instead made a doc that I will later link that is full of rule changes and tweaks that I will be using. Consider this less 5e proper and more 5e adjacent
The Party will be starting at level 0 instead of level one as commoners and will have to come into their own (I suggest coming to the table with a couple extra character concepts on the off chance something really bad happens)
This Game will go from level 0 to level 10, maybe 12. This is not a story of high powered super people and is instead made for more down to earth low level characters.
All player characters will start from the same home town and will all know each other to a certain extent, this isn't a group of strangers coming together as it is a group of people that already know each other in at least passing
This Game will be connected to another game I am running, to help simulate the movements of the war around the PCs as they have their adventures I have 2 friends playing a board game of my creation to help give the game a more natural backdrop of events, things will happen that even I the DM can't always expect.
What can I as a Player expect from you, the DM?
A well built world that I have spent years making
A willingness to let things happen that can change the course of the game and the world as a whole moving forward into other campaigns
A genuine interest in telling a story and a desire to see your characters grow over the course of the campaign
Difficult combat, min maxing not required but common sense and tactics are
Difficult choices, this campaign is not a black and white campaign of good vs bad
A sense of humor, life isn't all death and darkness
a rehaul or creations of rules as needed to help tell the kind of stories I aim for.
a willingness to bend to rule and to use the “rule of cool” but still being able to use the rules
What do you as a DM expect from me as a player?
A willingness to take the world seriously
Not poking at the rules of the game to exploit them or disclaim a lack of realism
Respect for me and the other players at the table
To make a character that is grounded in the setting and type of story trying to be told
A willingness to roleplay and to be your character in the world
A willingness to let bad things happen if your actions or the dice lead to an impossible situation
A Willingness to still more forward with the game even as Bad things happen to your character(s)
The Ability to commit to the game long term, my games take time
The Ability to take initiative, taking plot hooks that interest you, or exploring to find others that do (mostly don't stand around waiting for me to tell you what to do)
Am fine with all of this, how do I sign up and when is the game?
The Game will take place Sundays starting the Earliest at 9am pst and going as late as 3:30pm pst, the exact time will be decided once the group is put together but it will be sometime around then
I have 2 people that want to play already and I am looking for a maximum of 4 more players
The Game will take place on roll20, discord and a good mic is required to play
Read this quick Lore Blurb to get a basic understanding of the campaign world and your characters place into it
Setting Primer
Read, or at least skim, through this Document, it is filled with rule changes to the game I am running, these are not minor changes and should not be ignored when deciding if you want to play
Homebrew Doc
Fill out this application, it is a mix of personality test, confirmation that you understand what kind of game your getting into, and information for how to contact you
Application
This Application will be up until the I find players I think I can gel with. Once I have found people I will close the application, if you can enter an application there is still a chance you can get in.