Tomb of Annihilation | Levels 1-11 | π³οΈβπ π³οΈββ§οΈ Friendly | Beginners Welcome
About the adventure
The Forgotten Realms have been put under a magical curse that not even the strongest archmage can reverse. Instead, adventurers of all kinds have made their way to the Chultan peninsula to find the source of the curse, put an end to it, save the world, and maybe gain some notoriety along the way. Tomb of Annihilation is an epic adventure into lands long lost to history. You will meet interesting and storied people from a wide array of cultures, journey deep into a magical rainforest, and fight your way through a multi-level dungeon filled with deadly puzzles. This campaign is the perfect blend of all three pillars of play, deftly weaving social interaction, wilderness exploration, and life or death combat into a single experience. In the first phase of the adventure, you will navigate the city of Port Nyanzaru, a hub of industry and culture, as you gather information, secure allies, and prepare to brave the jungle. In the second phase, you will venture deep into the jungles of Chult, filled with undead, dinosaurs, and undead dinosaurs to slay as well as rival adventurers and pockets of local civilizations to help or hinder you depending on your choices. In the final phase, you will be plunged into a series of puzzles with deadly consequences for failure as you pinpoint the location and explore the depths of the Tomb of Annihilation. Do you have what it takes?
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
2 years on StartPlaying
38 games hosted
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Knows the Rules, Teacher
About me
Hello, everybody! I vividly remember my first time playing a TTRPG. My friends and I were gathered on the back patio, huddled around printed out character sheets and rulebooks 'borrowed' from an older brother. My Wookiee Jedi was facing up against a rancor but, try as I might, I didn't come out the other side alive (or even in one piece). The dice giveth and the dice taketh away. We started to meet up every weekend, making new characters and starting new adventures. Games rarely stuck around for more than a session or two, but we were so excited about the prospect of new stories that we barely minded. As I got older, I began to settle into the role of Dungeon Master (or Game Master, or Watchtower, or Storyteller... pick your poison). As fun as it was to make and play a single character, I find it even more engaging to facilitate the scenarios that allow everyone's stories to come together. In the 20 or so years since I started playing, I've found myself drawn to a wide variety of systems. I started on the old WotC Star Wars d20 systems (Original, Revised, and then Saga), later dabbling into D&D 3.5, Mutants & Masterminds, Fiasco, Microscope, Genesys / Star Wars FFG, and the Cortex systems (Marvel Heroic, Cortex Plus Dramatic / Smallville, and Cortex Prime). I've spent most of my time DMing the Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game (an official Marvel game from around 2003 that uses a resource allocation / betting system rather than dice - look it up!), Pathfinder 1e, D&D 4e, and D&D 5e. I only run 5e now, but I've found that my experience with many different systems has done nothing but help my DMing. Over the years, I've also introduce a ton of people to the hobby; if you feel like you don't know enough about the mechanics or TTRPGs in general, have no fear. I think benefit I'm more than happy to take the time to teach new players. If you're interested in learning and playing, then we'll have a blast.
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Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Inclusive
Knows the Rules
Teacher
Steve was my first DM, and I played an entire Tomb of Annihilation campaign under him starting as a complete beginner. The more I learn about tabletop gaming and different GM styles, the more thankful I am that he ran my first campaign. You won't find a more patient and fair person to guide you through your first time. At the same time, my veteran teammates were having just as much fun as I was. With Steve, it's the players' story; he's there to make sure it's a good one. He runs Tomb of Annihilation as a sandbox and is on board with whatever shenanigans you throw at him β and boy, did we some up with some big ones. He build up some incredible NPCs that were fun to engage with, but never hogged the spotlight. And he knows when to shift the mood: he'd make us laugh, cry and scream, at times all in the same session, but every one of those emotions felt earned. I will say that you should come to Steve's table with motivation and buy-in. He does a good job of laying out the ground rules and setting you interesting scenarios, but he's not the kind of DM who will railroad you through exploring them. Just like the adventure, Steve's skills are balanced between worldbuilding, social roleplay and engaging fights. If you're just looking to kill stuff and get rich, there are probably better DMs for that.
Character creation
Creating your character
You will be coming in mid-campaign. As such, your character will be created on D&D Beyond and at level 3. I will make a campaign for everyone to join and share content. Additionally, we will have an abbreviated Session 0, but I will mostly catch you up before the session begins. We will talk character concepts and how to integrate into the campaign, then take time to build characters. All characters start play with a single Common Magic Item and Ability Scores are decided by rolls (preferred of two arrays, with point buy as a fall back if you don't like what you rolled), which will be done on Roll20. Characters can be made using any officially published material available to me on D&D Beyond.
Biweekly play (Approximately 2 sessions/month); Optional text-based roleplay via Discord between sessions
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Ideally, you shouldn't need to do much to prepare beyond filling out the Consent Checklist. We will talk about character concepts there and I really suggest that you hold off on finalizing any kind of character concept until after we've had a chance to meet minds as a group. You will need an account on Discord, Roll20, and D&D Beyond, all of which are free. In terms of hardware, I will be using a mic and camera, but video is not necessary if you don't have access to it or are uncomfortable with it. I do prefer voice, however, so we can speak real-time to one another.
What Stephen | The Dungeon Master, Esquire brings to the table
By joining the campaign, you will have access to all published D&D books through Keys From the Golden Vault. When the campaign concludes, I will commission art for the group to commemorate the adventure!
Platforms used
Safety
How Stephen | The Dungeon Master, Esquire creates a safe table
Players can expect sessions that spend time prioritizing roleplay scenarios as well as engaging combats. Nearly all rolls will be done out in the open and there will be no fudging, which can sometimes (though exceedingly infrequently in my experience) result in character death. If a PC dies, we will work together to find a way to integrate a new character into the story and to allow you to participate in the rest of the session. That said, in the many times I've participated in this adventure, only one character permanently died: the player used a class feature to soak a Disintegrate targeting another player in the final session, knowing that the damage was unsurvivable. Combat/Tactics Level are High, but I will never go out of my way to make fights unwinnable. Intelligent, evil enemies will behave intelligently and evilly, but less intelligent or less evil enemies will also behave accordingly. I like to have fewer combats - maybe one per session - but for those combats to be engaging and meaningful on all fronts. Roleplay is Medium because I will never expect a player to engage with roleplay more than they are comfortable, but I will always provide scenarios where you can get into your character's head. I do not expect you to be in character throughout the entire session and don't expect you to have a character voice (or to even speak in the first person when you're in-character!), but I would love to see and hear it if you're comfortable. As long as you are willing to engage and play nice, that's enough. Puzzles are High, but loaded to the back of the adventure. One thing I really enjoy about this adventure is that the puzzles are very dangerous, but the dangers are clear and present. There are very few instances where failing to detect a problem results in trouble; more often than not, they are front and center, waiting to be solved. I will distribute a Consent Checklist before Session 0 that will allow you to go in depth about what you are comfortable with in game; this form will be over Google Forms and completely anonymous. I have already listed a very exhaustive list of possibly triggering scenarios, but many of them are unlikely to happen (though technically possible or things that may be interpreted as such). I fully intend to rework the adventure around anything a player is uncomfortable engaging with.