RISE OF THE DROW | π‘οΈ New 5E Rules | π New Player Friendly
The Drow raided your village and kidnapped your family. Now, you're headed to the Underdark for some payback. Save your family. Save the world.
About the adventure
Embrace the Darkness: Journey into the Underdark π―οΈ π Epic Level 1-20 Campaign π‘οΈ New 5E Rules As Available βοΈ Battle Horrors of the Underworld π Explore the Depths Below π Rich Roleplay and Mature Themes Tonight, a ceremony of light takes place on the surface. Meanwhile, in the city of spiders, a drow matron solidifies a pact with soul-consuming entities, trading great sacrifices for unimaginable power. Drow eyes turn to the surface. After all, they will need many sacrifices! The Underworld Awaits: Enter the Underworld, a dark and dangerous place inspired by Norse mythology and popularized by the late, great E. Gary Gygax, as well as authors Ed Greenwood, R.A. Salvatore, and many others. A twisted and dark place with a myriad of cultures and creatures, the Underworld is an entire world buried below the surface, hidden from the light of day. Deep caves and dark passages wind and honeycomb throughout the earth, with distinctly unique species plotting against each other and unknown horrors slogging about looking for an easy meal.
Game themes
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Sunday β 5:00 PM UTC
Jul 6 / Session 36
3β4 Hour Duration
5 / 6 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
Gamersaurus
he/him
5.0
(18)
Schedule
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(18)
3 years on StartPlaying
210 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, World Builder
Average response time: 9 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hey there! I'm Gamersaurus Lex, a longtime player and GM who owned a local game store for about a decade. I am a happy-go-lucky extrovert that spent the last decade of his life running a FLGS and professionally nerding out with gamers of every age and disposition. I love running games with lots of excitement, fully realized NPCs, and a true open sandbox approach, even when we're running an established module. You want to ignore the module's storyline and chart your own course? I will make it happen! Prefer to play in one of my homebrew campaigns set in the Moonsea Region of the Forgotten Realms? Buckle up, you're in for a wild ride! I have decades of experience introducing new players to the hobby, at my game store, conventions, and at my home table, so you couldn't be in better hands if you're just starting out with TTRPGs or if you're switching systems. I have been a pro GM for about 20 years, and only recently started offering my services online with StartPlaying. Veterans will enjoy my games, too, especially with all the Easter eggs that pop up in every session. I tend to run D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Starfinder these days, but I have plenty of recent experience with 3.x, Savage Worlds, GURPS, and the many varieties of the Cypher System. And, let's be honest, given time to prepare, I can run any system if there is a group that really wants that system.
View Profile βReviews (18)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Creativity
Storytelling
World Builder
Jacob
Played 137 sessions
Gamersaurus is absolutely incredible at making open sandboxes, and encouraging character creativity. His worlds have few, if any, rails in them and he doesn't get so wedded to his story creations so as to harm player agency. Instead, he knows his world and his NPCs, so he "recalculates" the world on the fly as players make choices. Normally a small action has a small effect, but sometimes the dice and the players take the story off in strange new directions, and he follows it with aplomb and creativity. He encourages rich character design, working with backstories and mechanical choices to make them worthwhile and feel "real" within the world. For long-running campaigns, he encourages continued contribution, posting snippets of story between sessions and encouraging players to write their own stories to integrate into his world. As an example, in one game he introduced an NPC with an oddly unsettling personality quirk, created on the fly to give him depth. My group latched onto this NPC and created a whole multipart story about him following our brief encounter as he moved through the world and followed his own storyline, even though we never intersected with him again. His worlds not only accept this kind of collaborative storytelling, they encourage it. I have played a lot of role-playing games across the decades, and Gamersaurus is my hands-down favorite. I have played in many games with him, and will likely play in many more.
Lanasim
Played 54 sessions
Lex is an awesome GM. He always let's the players drive the direction of the campaign. His creativity, enthusiasm and game knowledge are unmatched. After we complete a session, I can't wait for the next one to begin. Fun and exciting every session.
Cynthia
Played 36 sessions
I am thoroughly enjoying my campaign with Lex. He is very knowledgeable, drew me into the game world immediately, and is a great story teller. He's extremely encouraging to each player in our game and truly makes us feel like we belong in this world. He also loves it when we operate outside the box. I look forward to each session and can't wait to see where we go!
Craig
Played 31 sessions
Refreshing to see a GM that values actual roleplaying rather than the usual wave of badguys approach. Sets the mood and will adapt to your skill level so for new people he gives time and flexibility and for more experienced he will keep you on your toes. 100% enjoyment and I really like that old feeling of dodging that arrow with my name on it and strutting out the end of an encounter with a bag of coins and a tale for the bards to sing of ............minus the part of screaming in a high pitched (yet manly )voice . Definitely give Gamersaurus Lex a go.
Rare Mob
Played 27 sessions
Lex is an incredible DM. Pure and simple. He's charismatic, a wonderful storyteller, and always open to player input and creative solutions. He also knows how to keep the story flowing, which I find is one of the most important things for a DM to know. You'll never find your party in long awkward pauses or with no idea how to proceed when you're playing with Lex. Five stars is the max rating on Startplaying, I would give Lex a higher rating if I could!
Juliet L'mous
Played 23 sessions
If you're like me, you're looking for something beyond the normal dungeon grind. Lex has been a breath of fresh air for running Pf2e in a way that's easy to get into and has us all leaving each session having a good time!
Character creation
Creating your character
Characters will begin at level 1 and we'll be using D&D Beyond (I have a GM subscription so you'll have access to all the options). Characters will be built prior to the beginning of the game, and I will be available for 1 on 1 conversations and questions about your choices. Our first session will include some Session Zero content to make sure we are all on the same page, before diving right into the story.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You'll need a webcam (if you opt into video), mic, and free accounts on D&D Beyond, Discord, Zoom, and Forge VTT (which is the version of FoundryVTT hosted in the cloud instead of on my home computer). Don't worry about knowing the rules by heart or having experience with TTRPGs: I am a walking/talking human tutorial for new players.
What Gamersaurus brings to the table
I am a storyteller and we are going to tell the story YOU want to tell. I create scores of NPCs and try to give them all unique personalities, voices, habits, and motivations. No two campaigns have the same plot, because I customize everything for your PCs. This is as close to an open sandbox as possible while still using a 5e module. I reward investigation, planning, and social interaction. I always reward players who come up with unique or creative ways to solve problems, and there are no stupid questions (e.g., "Can I swing across the room on the chandelier?" "Heck yeah, roll an Acrobatics check!") I generally follow the rules as written, along with some modifications to keep the game moving (e.g., if the battle is clearly won, rather than sit around for another 4 rounds whittling away at a monster's HP, I may ask if "How do you want to end it?"), but I am also not opposed to the Rule of Cool, especially in climactic moments! My games are high on RP. For important interactions, I use an easy-to-learn social encounter system based loosely on Pathfinder's Intrigue rules. The Underdark is dangerous, but there is often a way to avoid combat, including running away, if you want. That said, my combats are challenging and interesting (lots of modified monsters and varied settings) and character death is always a possibility. If you want to use a voice or accent, that is awesome, but you are also free to narrate your character's actions in the first or third person: e.g., "Beatrice is suspicious of this haughty noble and tries to direct the conversation to learn more about his background" or "I don't believe him, but I want to convince him that I do." As far as resources go, I use FoundryVTT on ForgeVTT (so you just need access to the ForgeVTT website and not your own copy of FoundryVTT). I have a subscription to D&D Beyond for creating characters and even making rolls and using your character sheet during sessions if you prefer. I also use a ton of add-ons and other services, such as Syrinscape, dScryb, assets and mods from Patreon accounts for awesome maps and art, and even some custom-created maps and tokens, plus the Collectors Edition module customized for FoundryVTT (all of which I own). (I do sometimes use a bit of generative AI - like that provided in Photoshop - to modify maps, assets, etc.)
Homebrew rules
*Hero Points (max 3) instead of Heroic Inspiration. *Can choose to take expected average on healing rolls instead of rolling.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Headphones
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Gamersaurus creates a safe table
I am a firm believer in getting everyone's input at the first session about what kind of game we want to play. I have DM'd for shiny-faced children and grizzled grognards alike. I used to host game nights at my game store (owned a FLGS for 10 years), so there is literally no kind of player I have not had fun gaming with!
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