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Sundered Realms: The Secret of Bone Hill
A land awakens after the fog of an ancient war between fey houses devastated the land. Civilization rebuilds, though dark forces stand against it.
About the adventure
The Barony of Restenford is a land buried beneath mist, superstition, and the losses of a war from generations past. Tales are varied on the nature of the war but most believe that the monsters and dark things rose up and banded together to break the living order of the mortal folk...and that the war spent both sides. That the forces of chaos were banished to the Under, that mortals barely survived and that much knowledge and many wonders were lost. Many come to the lands escaping strife, seeking after rumors and legends, to seek their fortune in trade or plunder of lost relics from beneath the sleeping land. Explore lands worn down by darkness and a war which spent both sides, brave haunted ruins and hidden dungeons and unearth secrets and treasures. The most infamous location is known as Bone Hill, the ruins of the Scarlet Prince's fortress and the site of the last great battle in these lands...a battle from which the lands and people have yet to recover. Legends of the place promise wealth, fame, and power to adventurers, and for those who have a higher quest; hope. Play-Style This is a sand-box with many plots to stumble into. Enjoy hardcore-style play with tactical combat, unbalanced encounters, and clever monsters! Make choices that affect the world! Create a character that will become a hero, make a name for themselves, and work to fight the growing darkness! Play in the spirit of OSR in the D&D Basic module updated for 5e! I like intense, gritty combat, immersive RP, and detailed exploration. I have a list of table rules available on my Discord server so players can get a feel for my style before playing. It is very much a sandbox, with NPCs, locations, and secrets to unlock, and many opportunities craft, con, trade, explore, fight, and plot! Liveplays and videos: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR3ja21GwFHHT51fEW0i1_g Twitch (follow) https://www.twitch.tv/dmfaenor
Game style
Roleplay Heavy
Rules as Written (RaW)
Combat Heavy
Game themes
$30.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Wednesday – 2:30 AM UTC
Aug 13 / Session 67
Session Duration / 2–2.5 hours
Campaign Length / 70–100 Sessions
3 / 6 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
DMFaenor
he/they
5.0
(55)
Schedule
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Report Adventure
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(55)
4 years on StartPlaying
968 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Teacher
About me
Imagine The air is cold, stale, and dry. You entered to half-buried hill of old stones following clues scrounged from the lair of cultists, paired with research the wizard spent weeks on...weeks of boredom in the sleepy town. Now, you finally get to stretch your limbs and do what you do best! Ahead of your group the darkness billows like a gauzy curtain. Rock dust grits beneath your boots as the party creeps into a broken chamber. The small sounds you make echo back to you seconds later, distorted, and the ceiling is lost above you in shadow. You can feel the crushing weight of stone above. The fighter carries a torch which gutters in a sudden wind. Sounds creep from the surrounding dark; the dry rasp of scales on stone. The sorcerer's eyes go white as it watches from above through the eyes if it's familiar. The sound of the rogue's footsteps fade as they slip away from the torch's light, knowing that an attack is imminent. Inhuman throats hiss all around the party, whispering coughs punctuating the roiling darkness. At the edges of the torch light the gloom takes shape. Scaled creatures in filthy robes hiss as they charge into the circle of the party's light...What do *you* do?! Decades of Passion and Experience are your Game Engine Play campaigns that are a combination of player-generated and GM-inspired. Be immersed in rich description, action, problem-solving, and meaningful choice! Enjoy tense combat in a combination of grid tactics and narrative description. Dive into sandbox-style play, build your character’s name, resources, and power while unraveling mysteries and secrets. Then use those secrets to alter the direction of the world story, impacting hundreds or thousands with your decisions. Interact with new game mechanics, magic items, and creatures. Personalize your character and tie their abilities to the history of the world. Enjoy tailored gameplay based on character background, abilities, and player playstyle. Delve into grounded and human settings, with events happening beyond your character's actions, and NPCs who have agendas of their own. Experience detailed, evocative worlds, and explore them with a fun table of players and flexible GM who has something to offer every playstyle! Different Playstyles I run several tables and each table has a different game style. New players are absolutely welcome! I enjoy bringing new players in. It may actually be one of my favorite things. New players always bring a fresh perspective, a curiosity about the game, a willingness to flow with others, fresh creativity, and bravery when it comes to trying new things. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are my best tables for new players. Some of my tables are more challenging than others, some campaigns or groups leaning more toward grittyness, hardcore gameplay, and deep detail. Regardless, the groups that form around my game tables are all gracious and patient...because this is what we feel it takes to make a great game! Old-School, Narrative, and Homebrew I combine elements from many editions of the game, alter rules for each table and world to match the theme, and in many ways tailor the game to my table. If you are looking for a strict interpretation of 5e rules, looking to play the mechanics, min/max, run game-breaking builds, etc, and are put off by homebrew and rule changes I may not be the DM for you. However, if you are into the spirit of co-creation, like characters that are unique to the table, and want both narrative and granular play then feel free to join us and observe a session!
View Profile →Reviews (55)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Creativity
Storytelling
Teacher
Don AKA Unq
Played 207 sessions
Faenor is an experienced and descriptive DM - but above all he is flexible and supportive. He wants to help the players build the world and experience it, and is very open to off-the-wall ideas and unusual requests (such as learning skills or a spell outside your usual restrictions, or custom magic items, or even things not even touched on in the usual game rules!). His games have plenty of room for what the players WANT to do, rather than what they are expected to do. Exploration, social encounters, combat, downtime for crafting/research/whatever is all on the table and are all in the mix in Faenor's games if the players want. I could go on - but this review really boils down to emphasizing how flexible and open-minded DMFaenor is when running games. If you have a character concept that doesn't nicely conform to molds, Faenor is a great DM to help you explore and realize what you want in an adventure!
John Carr Mcilnay
Played 172 sessions
Faenor is an excellent GM, here’s a few things that I really enjoy about the game we’re playing now. Excellent world building, helped me better figure out who my character is/encourages character development as you level up, great at reminding players about past plans/events without taking it too far(still take notes), can be flexible with the rules as long as it makes sense, and is just all around a super nice/understanding guy who wants everyone to have fun. Lot of other great things I could say, but I’ll leave it at that.
Orr
Played 138 sessions
I've been in ~100 sessions with DMFaenor, all in an ongoing campaign and a single one-shot. I've had a lot of fun in every session! They are very conscious of making sure each player is heard and has time to play their character while in combat, exploration, downtime, and role playing. Also leaves time at the end of each session for players to talk about how the session went. Bad or good, comments and feedback are welcome and DMFaenor uses them to improve their sessions in the future and to tailor the campaign to the players' preferences. Discussions on Discord between sessions is encouraged and is very helpful since it allows more time in the session to be strictly playing the game rather than each person having a lot of small questions to be answered in the beginning of a session. Clearly thought-out world building, maps, NPCs, and factions. A good balance of having players follow a strict rule set, but always allowing it to bend if appropriate or a reasonable explanation is given. Very accommodating to schedules and trying to make sure everyone gets a chance to play as much as possible. Overall a great experience and 10/10 would recommend!
Bricen
Played 127 sessions
Very flexible and adapts to group over time. Great at keeping track of your adventure and pulling things back up to sculpt a strong long term story. The evolution feels like the highlight of the campaign. Keeps close to 5e base rules but allows so much campaign options to players. Really knows how to read a room. Very creative combats especially with unique maps that highly affect strategy. Calm chill vibes.
JFinkz
Played 111 sessions
I have been playing a campaign with DMFaenor for about a year and a half now and have enjoyed every session of it. DMFaenor is an amazing storyteller who has tomes of lore in his worlds and enjoys players interacting and building on/in it, encouraging RP between players and the worlds he runs at large. He is also very generous in accepting feedback about all his games and willing to listen to criticism. I would highly suggest DMFaenor as your next DM, he is knowledgeable of the rules, but also does not let them stand in the way of amazing moments and fantastic problem solving that players make. If you enjoy seeing something new, exciting, and creative, check out one of DMFaenor's games.
Imm
Played 109 sessions
This GM is a very good GM and is beginner friendly which allows for some cool gameplay and the best part of all: "you can describe or pass as dispatch this foe"
Character creation
Creating your character
Since the campaign is in session I will offer a free voice session to help you build you character, learn the important setting details, and get you caught up on the game so far, for establishing style, tone, expectations, boundaries, campaign length, table rules, house rules, etc. Characters are 8th level. Races are open as long as the character can blend in with humans or the players is interested in standing out.
The PCs have taken care of the network of bandits, crime families, and dark fey, scheming nobles, and now set their sites on the titular location: Bone Hill! It is a place of old, dark magic, and the remnants of a hidden sect who worship a dark fey lord, Arik of the Red Gloom. The expect undead, both mindless and awakened, and they know that the area itself is suffused with an ancient curse of necromantic origin, capable of taking over their bodies should they die there. A great time to join this OSR sandbox if you just like to come in for the clench or prefer joining at a higher level. Party is level 8. We plan on continuing to level 20! Message me on discord, and feel free to come sit in and check the game out. New players can schedule a private session to make their character, set expectations, and get caught up with the world story, and the fee for the private session will be refunded after the players has played for a few sessions. This is part of an ongoing campaign of modules from older editions of D&D adapted for 5e! Join us for intense combat, wilderness survival, resource management, tactical planning, lore-puzzling, and more. The party has reached level 8, and is now climbing the broken hills to root out a large group of bandit. But the bandits are well-trained, making the party pay for every inch of ground! Join now to enter the fray, or message me with any questions you have!
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Make sure you have stuff ready before game: Notepad to keep game notes and questions Water Snacks Fidget toy Mic, headphones, discord setup Inspiration: miniatures, art, lighting, etc
What DMFaenor brings to the table
Roll20 will be used for evocative 2D maps, game notes, die rolling, character sheets (D&DBeyond is fine, too!) and tokens. Discord is used for voice, music, and sharing game art images.
Homebrew rules
Healing potions are a bonus action, critical miss tables, players get an inspiration each session but when they are used the DM gets one!
Equipment needed to play
Microphone
Internet
Computer
Headphones
Platforms used
Safety
How DMFaenor creates a safe table
-Content Warning: Violence, creation of suspense, descriptive combat, NPC and potential character death. Combat will be dangerous. Horror and survival elements may not be suitable for some players. -Hard NOs: Torture, sexual abuse. I do NOT include these in my games. If any players attempts to force this they will be kicked. -Romantic scenarios, as well as "bad stuff" may happen "off-screen", but may only be hinted at in the vaguest of terms (that way players are each free to use their imagination if they choose) -I am familiar with the safety toolkit, and make all of them available in-game. Please be respectful of these tools and do not abuse them for game advantage. They are here to help players, not characters. Tools available: X/N/O cards are available for players- O=player ok to continue, N=players is becoming uncomfortable with content/events, X=players needs to stop or withdraw for a moment and reassess their experience. Script change-players can request Stop, FF, RW events if they are becoming triggered or feeling unsafe. The group can take Breaks as needed Open Door- If a player has to leave the session or campaign for reasons of emotional or psychological safety that player will be allowed to return as they desire. - Additionally I am *very* open to aftercare, debriefing, session wrap with highlights and stars and wishes! -Character creation/session 0 will give players an opportunity to mention specific triggers and needed boundaries, and each player will be expected to respect the boundaries set. Violators will be kicked.
