Dungeons & Dragons 5e | The War of the Burning Sky

About the adventure

Gate Pass is under attack! The forces of the Empire are marching upon the western gate of the independent city-state of Gate Pass. Already the ruling council has capitulated and is allowing anti-magic inquisitors to enter the city to flush out “dangerous spell casters who are to blame for the emperor’s untimely death.” Meanwhile, the forces of the high elves are waiting outside the eastern gate to prevent the Empire from invading their lands. You can be the key to saving not only Gate Pass, but the world as you know it. Before the campaign is over, the players will: 🔥 Fight the living incarnation of an eternal forest fire. 🌪️ Battle a cell of magical spies while a hurricane rages around them. ⚔️ Carry out military operations ranging from infantry maneuvers and spying, to cavalry charges and tactical strike missions. 🕵🏿 Adventure through the memories of an enemy ruler to learn her secrets. 🛡️ Defend against a battalion of soldiers mounted on war mammoths and their frost giant allies in an arctic waste to protect a vital teleportation circle. 🤜🏽 Engage in street-to-street fighting in an occupied metropolis, led by a traitor toward a trap that will destroy the entire city. 🕯️ Get their hands on an artifact and can use it to turn the tide of the war. This is a level 3 to level 20 DnD 5e campaign featuring heavy role play and exploration, with challenging combat. The players will have the opportunity to influence political events in the world, to lead armies into battle, and to possibly rule the world or let it be destroyed as they see fit. The PCs will get to play with some big guns, and as the campaign nears its climax you will witness the horrifying potential of magic on the field of war. Note that this is a long-term commitment to see the full campaign to the very end. It is broken up into arcs and you are welcome to join for a campaign arc. While a somewhat linear campaign, the choices and actions of the characters will make the difference between success or failure. The world is rich in NPCs, some helpful, some not, and most who you will have the ability to sway to your side.

Additional Details

How to prepare

If you do not have one, create a free account on Roll20. Likewise, you will need a free Discord account. Please make sure you have a good working microphone. I highly recommend headphones for clarity of voices. Bring your character concepts with you to Session 0. Please read the table rules on the dedicated Discord server for this game and acknowledge that you have seen them by reacting to the post. If you are unfamiliar with Roll20, please let me know and I can send you some good tutorials and schedule some time to show you around.

What I provide

I have a Pro account on Roll20, which will allow you to access my library of compendium resources both in and outside of the game. I will have the game preloaded on Roll20 and a dedicated Discord server set up for this campaign. On Discord, you will find my table rules, guides for making a character background, and additional lore you can read through. Posted will also be the game link for you to sign into the game on Roll20. The games will have artwork and handouts from the manufacturer plus additional material I add to the campaign. Maps will be recreated by me, from a mapmaker online, or official maps from the campaign. There will be curated list of atmospheric music and ambient sounds which will play during the session. I do record the sessions for my own personal use in making notes and improving my skills. At the conclusion of each session, I do create session notes which will be posted on Roll20 and on Discord within a few days of the session. Additionally, I post some fun notes on the Roll20 landing page for everyone to enjoy. Lastly, I bring a focus on the story and the characters. No matter what the campaign or module we are playing, the actions of the characters takes precedence and informs how the story will play out. I enjoy all aspects of creating unique stories with my players and the game play is influenced by their preferences.

Gameplay details

We will discuss the campaign details and objectives, review the setting, discuss lines and veils, and start character creation during our session 0. During game play, there will be an X, N, & O card deck available for players who need to take a break and discuss the action and topics in the session at any time. We will immediately discuss and revise as needed to make sure the players are comfortable with the game play and story line. Sessions will be conducted on Roll20 for character sheets, maps, visual aids, and dice rolling. Discord will be used for voice during sessions, and notes, scheduling, and role play out of session. I am aiming for a 4-hour session and we will break sometime around 2 hours to allow people to stretch, take a bio-break, and get refreshments. Following each session, we will do a check in on how the session went and note if there are any issues or concerns. Character backgrounds are important and will be utilized within the setting and game play. I will have a document posted on the dedicated Discord channel with what I would like to see in your back story. Rules for character creation will be posted in a document on the Discord channel. Briefly, we will roll a mutual pool of stats which everyone will use to create their characters. Anyone joining after the Session 0 will be given the same set of attribute scores to choose from to make their character. Pre-generated characters are available for anyone wishing to use one. This is very much a character driven campaign. The actions of the characters inform the difficulty level and chances for success in the end.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Breaks
Debriefing
Lines and Veils
Session 0
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Characters will be created at Session 0. For character creation, I have the Player's Handbook, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and additional material from the game we are playing to help with picking species, classes, and sub-classes available on Roll20. We will use a common dice pool generated at Session 0 by all the players who attend. Ability Score: Dice Pool Method This method will generate eight ability scores – Each person rolling a d6 and then pooling these results in groups of four rolls and dropping the lowest value. This is repeated in turn using all the rolls in order as they appear or are reported until there is a total of eight ability scores. These scores will be paired up with the highest value to the lowest value, the next highest to the next lowest, etc., to create four pairs of scores. Players will then have the selection of any three of the pairs from which to fill out their ability scores for their characters. This dice pool will be retained so that any new player joining or any player creating a back-up or new character will use the same starting numbers for the duration of the campaign. So as an example, the rolls come up as 17, 16, 13, 12, 11, 11, 9, 8. The matched pairs would be (17,8), (16,9), (13, 11), (12, 11). A player creating a character could use any three of these pairs for their ability scores.

Players can expect

What's StartPlaying?

Tabletop Roleplaying Games Run by Game Masters