ESCAPE ELYSIUM: a new level 16 Domains of Dread mini campaign
About the adventure
You wake up in a bar in the broken city of Elysium, no idea how you got there with traveling companions you barely remember. Now you only have one goal... escape. Elysium is a monochrome city of endless rain, dead gods, moving streets and a terrified populace whose unspoken rule is 'Don't talk about It, or It will get you.' Unspeakable denizens wander about, waiting to snatch up horror struck creatures. The fog of Ravenloft surrounds the city, keeping those inside trapped forever. And those who find themselves going mad may be the only ones who see the truth. This game will be using Van Ritchen's Stress and Fear mechanics instead of short/long term madnesses. However, as your stress level grows, so does your Sight, allowing you to see the true city of Elysium. This game is not for the faint of heart, full of gothic horror, cosmic horror, and folklore horror. For this reason, this game is 18+. This campaign will take around 6-8 sessions to complete. This campaign is more rp/exploratory centric than combat focused.
Game themes
$24.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Saturday – 4:00 AM UTC
2 Hour Duration
5 / 6 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
Dev Alva
they/them
5.0
(183)
Schedule
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Report Adventure
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(183)
4 years on StartPlaying
1502 games hosted
Highly rated for: Knows the Rules, Creativity, Inclusive
About me
Hello, I’m Dev! I’ve been a DM for seven years now, running both long term campaigns and one shots. I am very passionate about creating an immersive online experience, with great maps, music, and sound effects. I’ve been running online games for many years now, and feel very confident in my techniques and creating a fun and awesome game. I love running epic combats, high tier play, and role playing. Right now I am only running DnD 5e 2014 rules.
View Profile →Reviews (183)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Knows the Rules
Creativity
Inclusive
Philip
Played 292 sessions
I have really enjoyed Dev’s games. They really let you be creative with your characters and provide a lot of support for exciting combat and roleplay opportunities. I highly recommend!
Brandon
Played 230 sessions
THIS DM PHUKS!!!
Mark Reuter
Played 200 sessions
Great mix of exploration and combat and investigation. It was fun to get to immerse into the world.
Ashe
Played 194 sessions
Being a relatively new player, Dev was so patient with me whenever I had questions! After playing a few sessions with Dev, it's safe to say that they're an awesome DM. They create a fun and immersive experience with music and are always open to player creativity.
Shea
Played 152 sessions
I have played multiple campaigns and one-shots with Dev. I started as a beginner, and feel confident now jumping into one-shots or trying new classes. They do an amazing job with characters and voices, reacting to players, and designing battles that are challenging, unique, and fair.
Jesse
Played 151 sessions
Good adjudicator, objective. Well prepared. Absolute master at high level content and able to keep motivated with it. This one runs RaW (Rules as Written), but when fuzzy logic is needed or if discretion is allowed, runs optimistic / generous (this is a trend in multiple StartPlaying GMs), but will ban things that are uber broken or highly disruptive, In Session 0s and one-shots, they (note alt-pronoun) are as methodical as a flight attendant doing a safety briefing in doing the safety stuff and basic roll20 tutorial. Big D&D Adventurer's league veteran and fan. Allows character re-use between campaigns, mini-campaigns, and one-shots keeping levels, epic boons, treasure, and items - good for player loyalty.
Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation will be done before the game. If you can create your character sheet on roll20 that would be the best, but I also accept Dndbeyond sheets that can be linked to roll20. Character creation rules: Level 16 Point buy (27) Sourcebooks allowed: Dungeon Master's Guide, Player's Handbook, Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, Monsters of the Multiverse, Glory to the Giants, Book of Many Things Magic items: 1 legendary 2 very rare 2 rare or uncommon banned items: wave, whelm, blackrazor, potions of giant size, talisman of pure good, iron flask, broom of flying, adamantine armor, mizzium armor, bag of devouring, horns of valhalla, manual of golems, guardian emblem, deck of wonder, plate of knight's fellowship, fate dealer's deck, jester's mask, spindle of fate you may not stack stat books, you can only benefit from one stat book per stat You will start out with 8,000 gp and 800 sp in your coin purse that you can spend on mundane items from the PHB. You also start out with one potion of supreme healing.
we are using the 2014 5e rules for the entirety of this adventure
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Players need a working mic and access to a computer. The game will be held over discord and roll20, so you will need an account on both. Players will need to make their character sheet ahead of time in roll20 or dndbeyond. If dndbeyond, they will need to have the chrome extension beyond20.
What Dev Alva brings to the table
I work hard to provide an immersive online experience for my players. I use music and soundscapes to set the mood. I use imagery for theatre of the mind roleplay, and beautiful maps from various sources for combat and exploration. I am constantly improving my roll20 room with effects and visuals for you all to enjoy. I make sure to give everyone a chance for their character to shine, and play to their strengths and abilities. In my games you can expect challenging combat, great improvisation, and an immersive world to play in. I put player agency and involvement first, and I want to emphasize the fact that this game is a cooperative environment between myself and the players. I run my games RAW, or rules as written. If you have a rules question for me that I haven't come across before or forgotten about, I will pause the game momentarily to look it up and make sure everything is according to the spirit of the rules. I reference Sage Advice/Jeremy Crawford tweets, but have my own opinions as well (such as the interpretation of magic missile, shield master feat, and dispel magic).
Platforms used
Safety
How Dev Alva creates a safe table
This game uses safety tools. There will be no sexual assault, homophobia or transphobia in my games. Content warnings: cosmic horror, disturbing descriptions, characters under stress/fear effects, body horror, religious themes, betrayal, despair, horrifying monsters, mental institutions/insane asylums, reality warping, cults, suicide, sacrifices, many cats, unwinnable scenarios and unhappy endings. For those who enjoy such things... welcome.