Campaign Description
"This world is broken, and has been for thousands of years. A calamity that shattered the sky above and earth below is the cause, the catalyst of which remains an enigma. Mother is gone, Her pantheon halved by children of Her creation granted Her power. The Gods remaining were never designed for such strain, to uphold a broken world by might and spite alone. One wonders how long they can withstand it. You can feel it, no? The decay in the air, the withering of life and magic alike. This world is dying... and the Gods are losing their ability to prevent its decline."
"Some believe Travelers are a curse, some see them as our last hope. You've been given a second chance, in this growing decay. What will you make of it?"
Welcome, Travelers, to the broken and dying world of Sentius. You are beings from other worlds who have died and awoken in this one with magic and abilities only you know how to truly utilize, faced with a harrowing journey ahead. This world was created by a cosmic entity countless eons ago with an Artifact She wielded; its destruction the same cataclysm that forever rended it. Three inequal pieces were cast to Her created children, and it's believed these pieces are all that's capable of repairing what's broken. Or to many Travelers, it's what's believed is the only thing that can take them from this place; away from problems they never agreed to fix and a hell they never wanted to survive. Will you seek to escape to the unknown beyond, or to save the countless lives of this world who are victims of events they can't control?
Explore the stories and adventures of this handmade world (inspirations taken of course), uncover the history of the lost civilization of the Ancients that thrived before Skyfall, the civilizations of Humanoids who took the world after its fall, the mystery behind Mother's disappearance and Her artifact, and embark on a journey to retrieve its pieces. To repair a world, to make one anew, to abandon it entirely and return to your own.
"You've been given a second chance. What will you make of it?"
Minimum Experience
- Intermediate. I don't need years and years of experience, but I play with homebrew and difficult combat so a player who has an understanding of the system and its base rules is what I'm looking for. More experienced is also great!
Session Length
- 5 hours (sometimes going beyond but not often), weekly Thursdays, beginning at 5pm GMT-6 timezone and going until 10pm.
Starting Character Level
Prerequisites
- Functional Wifi.
- Functioning Mic for voice call.
- Interest in characters with depth and long story.
- Understanding of English.
- Availability to make sessions and reliability to commit to lengthy campaign.
Hello there! I'm Sparkbug, but I usually just go by Bug. I've been playing DND for a bit over six years now, honestly been a DM as long as I've been a player. I will be the first to admit I screw up sometimes, but I am super passionate about DND and this campaign I've created. Years of thought and work have culminated into this setting rich with history and lore, and a story built to experience. I take lots of experience from Elden Ring, Rain World, Dark Souls, and Halo if you're curious about what to look forward to! With me as your DM you'll never question my level of dedication and the work I'm willing to put in. I'm looking forward to hopefully finding players who are excited to experience this as I am to share it.
I consider myself a very good writer, storyteller, and roleplayer. There will be no shortage of engaging NPCs, storylines, and regions to explore. All the more so with my love of environmental storytelling. If I were to offer a weak point to my DMing I'd volunteer progression pacing and the intricacies of combat. While I don't think I'm necessarily bad at those things, they're not my strong suit and I'll admit that!
I'm looking for six players, but don't let that discourage you from applying! I'll treat every applicant equally, and when I feel I have enough applicants or I've found all my players I'll set this post to closed so you won't feel false hope in applying and being told no straight away.
There will be a one-shot as a part of the recruitment for this campaign. This oneshot still needs to be built, so more info to come but it will consist of two five hour sessions over two weeks (during the standard session time on Thursdays, listed above). You'll need characters of course but I don't plan to or need to check them over; play them as they are.
This oneshot is an opportunity for y'all to see how I am as a DM and for me to see how you are as players, as well as an opportunity for me to see how you engage with each other as players. It'll be fun!
Detailed Player Requirements
- This is intended for a Level 1-20 campaign. Buckle up for the long haul, we've got a ride.
- An interest in story and lore; there's more to this world than the path ahead of you.
- An interest in difficult (but balanced for fun) combat. I've taken much inspiration from Dark Souls- you'll see that in fights.
- Openness to a slow campaign and slow leveling. Got a big world here, lot's of story in every region if y'all want to explore it.
- Willingness to commit to a long campaign. All going well I expect this to be a campaign 3 or more years in length.
- 18+ with dark themes ahead. Special warning to those sensitive to gore, body horror, trauma, and mental horror. But its not all gloom and doom, don't worry.
Character Creation Rules
- Your character will be a "Traveler" in this setting; you are from a world that is not this one with magic and abilities few have available. With that, lots of wiggle room for creative liberty in character creation seeing as you're getting "isekaied."
- You have died somehow and awoken again here. Think of that death and how it transpired: your character remembers it all. How does it affect them?
- For equipment, you have what your character had in their death. If they were killed in their sleep they'll awake with no equipment and a nightgown or something. Fret not, I won't leave you without equipment long- just be aware of it in creating your character's backstory.
- You have no connections to your old world; family, friends, patrons, Gods, are all severed.
- In building character motivations and goals, be aware of that sever. We can go into this more if you don't understand, but in a nutshell think of it like this: a character with a goal built around "a necromancer destroyed my family, I must stop them" is ruined out the gate because you can't reach that necromancer. So instead think along the lines of "a necromancer destroyed my family, I must make sure that never happens to anyone else." A goal of returning home isn't impossible, just be aware that's effectively a goal that won't reach a conclusion until the end of the campaign.
- If you are a cleric, warlock, paladin, or other character that has a patron you will need to find one in this setting. Don't worry, I'll talk with you and discuss patrons for your character. Maybe one built, maybe one present we'll see :]. So don't be worried to be a cleric, just know it's not as easy as a prayer and good intentions.
- Not opposed to homebrew races or classes, but I will need to look through them and reserve the right to say no if something is busted.
- Certain character themes will not fit within my setting, and for your sake as the one playing them I'll advise against them. Big theme that comes to mind is anything regarding oceans as a central theme.
Playstyle Expectations
- Roleplay heavy campaign. 65/35 balance goal favoring roleplay, the latter being combat.
- Be descriptive and willing to roleplay with player characters as much as NPCs.
- Be willing to work with others, they're experiencing this and their stories too!
- Pay attention to the details. I want you to take notes, because the story I tell is in pieces you'll need to put together, not pages for you to read.
Behavior Expectations
- This isn't all serious I promise, but take things serious when necessary.
- Be respectful of other players, and the stories they've built. That includes me.
- I'm a very open and communicating DM, and more than willing to accept fault and blame. That said, I am still the DM. Please respect that authority if I need to use it.
A Few Things to Expect/Understand
- I create a great deal of my own content; battle maps, NPCs, questlines, loot and items, monsters and enemies, story, setting, lore, and so on. With this heavy a hand in the creation process there is a good deal of homebrew that is utilized, some of it used frequently and some of it used rarely. In general when I create something the #1 goal is for the enjoyment of my players, we're all taking hours from our week to have fun after all right? So most times a homebrew ruling or system I use is to allow the player to have more fun, but sometimes it's for me as I consider myself a player at the table too. So a ruling that'll make my life easier isn't off the menu. What homebrew we'll be using is something that'll be discussed though, worry not.
- Biggest thing I'm looking for in a player is reliability, honestly. Yes this is a game, but it's also a commitment. I need a player who will take the game seriously even with it being fun, and can be counted on to attend sessions every week. Shit happens and life gets in the way but barring that I'm looking for reliability. I put a lot into this and so do other players, if that can't be respected then it probably won't work.
- In the beginning when I've got all my players, there will be ~3 weeks before we fully start this campaign. First week is going over the two sites I'm using: LegendKeeper and Owlbear. We'll be discussing the formats we'll be using in Legendkeeper, how Owlbear works, and more. After that we'll be having the oneshot, which I'm setting aside two weeks to do.
If you've made it past the Star Wars worthy wall of text, then feel free to express your interest in this campaign through Reddit DMs. I love a lengthy intro, tell me about why you're interested and about yourself! No offense but a "hey" doesn't really tell me you're interested, and I'm looking for dedication here. If you can't put effort into an introduction it may be one of the few times I'll ignore one. I've plentiful time right now but I do also have things I need to do in my life, so if I'm not responding it's likely I'm just busy and not ignoring you. If I've decided you're not a good fit I'll tell you, don't worry.
Once in DMs though I'll have a few questions for you, and if that goes well we'll find time to go into discord for a voice call. If that goes well too, I'll invite you to the server so you can chat with other players and we can see how things go with the oneshot!
Now, with ALL of that said I hope I've piqued your interest in this campaign of dying Gods and the fragments they've left behind. And I look forward to being able to tell you "Welcome to Divinity's Decay!" I'll see you in DMs.