Where Evil Lives: Tactical 2-20 Campaign with Bastions
Dungeons & Dragons 5e | Campaign
About the adventure
There is evil out there. It lurks on the edges of civilization, in the savage wilds. It rises from ancient ruins, and is born anew in the hearts of the greedy. In a land of power, magic, and wealth, evil will always rise. But for every new evil, heroes are called! Some are paragons of good and virtue, who face evil for the sake of protecting those more vulnerable than themselves. Others are reavers, seeking only fame and fortune in the crypts and wilds. Some may have nefarious goals of their own, and face the monsters of the wilds only to amass power or exercise violence. Regardless of their motives, they are bound by friendship and a desire to face the greatest challenges that their world can provide. This will be a high-power 5e campaign built around Where Evil Lives by MCDM publishing. It is a book of monster lairs and boss battles balanced for levels 2-20, with each lair taking 2-3 sessions to complete. In between lairs, we will have at least one session covering the downtime activities that your characters undertake, including recruiting followers or even building strongholds. This campaign is meant to deliver a few specific things: 1) Tactical combat at every level with classic monsters re-balanced to be more varied and challenging. 2) Lots of loot, magic items, and gold; that is to say, you'll get high-power rewards, and you'll NEED them. 3) Accelerated progression; by skipping straight to the big boss's lair, we can play all the way to level 20 in a reasonable amount of time! 4) Free-form, RP-heavy interludes between encounters, highlighting your characters' progression and using the new Bastions system in the 2024 DMG. 5) Extra detailed character building that will give you a character with real motivations and depth! We will use the City of Greyhawk as a hub for the campaign; when you join, I'll be happy to bring you up to speed on what's available in the city in terms of lore, character connections, and political tensions!
Game style
Rules as Written (RaW)
Games that are ran “Rules as Written” emphasize realism and stick to the letter of the rules, allowing players to explore creative solutions while still operating under a consistent rule set. Players have the ability to utilize the rules in creative ways to create awesome characters and moments in the game.
Combat Heavy
“Combat Heavy” games emphasize the combat mechanics within their systems over roleplay or puzzle solving. There are frequent and longer battles with enemies and a greater emphasis on tactical game play.
--Updated after Session #15: we've recently lost a player due to scheduling conflicts. The party is currently level 6 and composed of: a Warrior of Shadow Monk; a Gloomstalker Ranger/Assassin Rogue; an Evoker Wizard; and an Oath of Protection Paladin. The party could definitely use a healer/spellcaster, but I'm comfortable with adjusting the campaign to make sure you can play any class you want!-- This will be an accelerated 1-20 campaign alternating between intense, tactical forays into the lairs of various boss monsters; and high-level, RP-focused downtime! In particular, I'm using some custom character-building mechanics that will give you an interesting character with goals and ties to the world. Face the most fearsome foes, build your character's wealth and power, and become legend!
5.0
(93)
3 years on StartPlaying
508 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Storytelling
Additional details
How to prepare
At minimum, you will need the basics for online communication; microphone, headset or headphones (or at least a very quiet room in order to avoid background noise), and a free account on Discord. You will also need free level accounts on Roll20 and D&D Beyond. I'm happy to help anyone who is new to any of these services! As for rules, I'm assuming that this is a campaign for people who are fairly familiar with D&D 5e. You certainly don't need to have everything memorized, but you should be familiar enough with the system to make an effective character who both fits in with the party, and can survive some particularly deadly encounters!
What I provide
I'll have everything set up on Roll20 for each session, including maps with dynamic lighting and background ambiance! You're welcome to maintain your character sheet either on Roll20 or D&D Beyond, using a browser extension to send your rolls to the VTT. The core of this game will be intense tactical combat as you clear out the lairs of each subsequent enemy. We'll run things as close to RAW as makes sense in the moment, although I'm always open to unusual solutions that aren't strictly covered by the rules! I will recommend using the character options in the 2024 Player's Handbook for most characters, although I'll be open to using older character options. We'll talk more about how we can handle this during the Session 0.
Gameplay details
We will have a free in-depth Session 0 to start this campaign, not only to set expectations for the campaign, but also to ensure that the characters you build fit well with each other as a group and can inhabit the world we choose to play in! During that Session 0 we will go over my personal Lines & Veils, and you'll be able to add items to that list at any time during the campaign. During sessions, I'll have at least one break as an intermission, and all players are also welcome to get up for any reason and at any time (open door policy), whether to run to the bathroom, get a snack, or because something has made you uncomfortable.
Content warnings
Safety tools used
• Aftercare
• Breaks
• Lines and Veils
• Open Door
• Session 0
• X, N, and O Cards
How will character creation work
We will cover the majority of character creation during our Session 0. Feel free to come up with character concepts before meeting with the group, but please make sure to be flexible in case of any overlap or conflicts. We'll start at level 1 with a short, non-combat introduction to the setting and the overall adventure. Then, the meat of the campaign will be lairs balanced for characters of level 2 through 20!
Players can expect
Combat / Tactics
High
Roleplay
Medium
Puzzles
Low
Experience level
Intermediate
Platforms used
• Discord
• Roll20
$25.00
/ Session
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Details
Weekly / Wednesday - 12:00 AM UTC
May 7 / Session 18
2-3.5 Hour Duration
4 / 5 Seats Filled
Schedule
Requirements
Experience required: Intermediate
Age: 18+