Image by Dieter Holstein
Shadows Over Ashara - Dark Urban Fantasy Campaign in D&D5e
This world asked the question: "What would it be like if a fantasy world advanced to the modern nuclear age?" Experience that answer.
$25.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Sunday - 9:00 PM UTC
Dec 14 / Session 22
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
4 / 6 Seats Filled
Report Adventure
StartPlaying Money Back Guarantee
If your game doesn't happen, we guarantee a refund. Just reach out to StartPlaying Support. Refund Policy
Schedule
Meet your party members
4/6
About the adventure
In the mighty city of Ashara, a metropolis of skyscrapers, neon lights, brightly lit streets, and shadowed alleyways. It is the Voice of the East, the continent's access to the Wylding Ocean. It is one of the largest cities in the world, and while it represents freedom and growth it is the darkness beneath that many experience. As with many places, there are disparities between those with money and power, and those without. While magic makes life easier, it doesn't make it perfect. Poverty, crime, violence, and bigotry make life difficult for anyone trying to make an honest living. With so many races living there and their combined needs, Ashara is full of many vibrant cultures with their different flavors of magic. Beneath the flashing neon signs, billboards proclaiming their products and businesses - both silently and audibly - amongst the warren of streets and alleyways, the old culture of adventurers still thrives. Despite having left it behind many centuries ago, adventuring has become part of Ashara's heritage and is still embraced by those who are not among the upper class. Dungeons and ancient schemes have been left in the past, but when such a past is brought back into the modern world, it will take some accidental heroes from the hidden world of Ashara's winding streets to find and prevent it. Plunge into a world where adventuring is a lost thing, a mixture of magic and technology, with a heritage hidden by billboards and video screens. This campaign is using the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition system and is set in a modern urban fantasy setting where magic and technology work hand-in-hand to make a vibrant, wonder-filled world hidden by advertisements and bright lights. It is a homebrew world where modern technology functions within the ruleset of 5e, turning the armor, weapons, skills, and spells into modern equivalents without changing their mechanics. If you've played 5e before, only the setting is new as everything else functions the same. If you've never played 5e before and this is your first time, Fifth Edition is the easiest system within the D&D franchise to get accustomed to. While the setting may differ from the typical medieval-fantasy one, each of its mechanics can be used seamlessly with other settings. I can't wait to play with you!
Game style
Theater of the Mind
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Roleplay Heavy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(24)
3 years on StartPlaying
392 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Rule of Cool, World Builder
Average response time: Under 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
I have been running TTRPG campaigns since 2015. Started as a player, then moved up to running a session once every couple weeks. Now I'm doing it weekly, and I can't get enough. I love to write and build worlds, and this lets me be every character I've ever written. I'm happy as the Forever DM, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my worlds with others!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation will be done either before Session 0 or during it depending on player preference and time constraints. Stats will be rolled using the Avrae discord bot utilizing the "4d6 Drop the Lowest" method. The commands to do this will be available in the Discord server in the channel for stat rolling. PC's will start at level 5 and will have one magical weapon and armor of Uncommon rarity or lower that fits their character. *We have decided to move to Foundry, so characters will be made there alongside what is and isn't allowed content-wise.*
**Half off your first session! This applies to both Session 0 and Session 1! Reduced price for first sessions after Session 1** Have you thought about how the system and setting of D&D would work in a more modern era? What would it be like in a land that once had adventurers, magic, and mythical creatures polymorph into an age much the same as our own? The age of adventure and mythology has passed. Where once there were adventurers who delved into ancient ruins, cavernous dungeons, and slew terrible monsters for coin and glory, there is now multi-lane highways, cars powered by fossil fuels or magic batteries, wands working the same as guns, and a myriad of races who live side-by-side in tall apartments and working in little shops along the road. Run through the streets of a modern, magical world through alleyways marred by poverty and decorated with graffiti, experience mundane technologies alongside their magical counterparts, and explore a world rich with lore and a long history propelled into the early age of space exploration. Wield magic amidst the shadows of a corrupt world while living on its dangerous streets, and see what modernity does to your typical D&D tropes.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You will need a working microphone, an account with Discord, a web browser for Foundry, and a keen imagination to participate in this campaign. As this world is a modern equivalent to ours, having fun analogs you think should exist with a funny name is always welcome. Decide what names an NPC should have because your character knows them. Name a shop or restaurant your character visits. This world is as much yours as it is mine. We can build it together.
What CryptMaster brings to the table
We will be utilizing Foundry with the compendium I have available for the campaign. I will be bringing maps I have made for combat scenes, tokens for your characters, and a compendium with almost every book published for 5e save for a few. We will be using theater of the mind more often than having visual aids, as much of the travel we will have will be within the main city or the places around it should the decisions of the team require leaving the city. I do my best with character voices, and use ambient music in my games. Combat will be brutal and tactical. Most of your enemies will have guns, wands, or do magic. Utilize cover and placement to better fight your enemies, and use what knowledge your character might have to use the best weapon, ability, or spell defeat your enemies the quickest. As with most of my games, if you think outside the box to do something cool with what your character is capable of, I will generally allow it. I love the rule of cool and will waive the rules if they do not fit what is currently going on or may hinder the enjoyment of the game.
Homebrew rules
Modern armor, weapons, vehicles, and certain magi-tech items; Brutal Critical Hits, Dumb Luck Inspiration, and a unique crafting system.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Microphone
Internet
Platforms used
Safety
How CryptMaster creates a safe table
Triggers and limits will be discussed on the Discord server via voice chat or direct messaging during Session 0. Breaks will be taken at the halfway mark or when needed. As this is a modern game, any breaks revolving around current content are always allowed. I have a zero-tolerance policy for mistreatment of fellow players and those who choose to take negative stances where "it's what my character would do" or promote a phobic mindset are not welcome. Toxic acts, statements, and roleplay are not welcome. Meta-gaming and building the apex character are discouraged. If a toxic personality trait is to be present in your character for roleplay and growth reasons, it must be discussed and agreed upon by the other players with the express goal of growing out of it during the story progression. We're here to have fun and escape from reality for a bit, not be the best warrior or meta-gamed superdude in the game. Player characters will start at level 5 and will be created before or during the Session 0. All classes, subclasses, races, and backgrounds published by WotC and available in my compendium are allowed, including those presented by Deep Magic by Kobold Press. Any outside content must be brought up and approved by me before implementation. As this is a modern setting, cars, smartphones, airplanes, motorboats, and public transit are things that exist in this setting. While some technological things like computers and vehicles are augmented by magic, not everything is. Items are graded by their level of magical influence, with strictly technological items - called mundane, simple, or pure-tech - being the least influenced and highly magically infused items - called hybrid, runic, or rune-marked - being the most. This applies to all technological items. Guns exist alongside magic, with their power matching that of certain wands used for combat. As such, all spells - from cantrips up to 6th level spells - are available in the form of wands or staves which anyone can purchase for a reasonable amount of money. Gold coins are translated as dollar bill equivalents, having been replaced by paper money some years ago. Thus all monetary exchanges will be through gold/bills. When gold is referenced or bills are referenced, be aware they are the same.
Content warnings
Safety tools used