Clash at Daemonhead - Daemon Summoning is a Spectator Sport!
Black Crusade | Campaign
About the adventure
This is a stand-alone, short-term campaign, intended to run 6-10 sessions. It is also able to serve as the intro to a full-length campaign, so the option is available to continue beyond that point, for any players who choose to. Set in the 40K Universe on a recently conquered Shrine World called Shellemar II, the players will be members of a Chaos cult, competing with other cults to find a successful summoning ritual for a daemon. Knowledge of the 40K Universe is helpful, but not essential, and I can point new players in the right direction for useful information. "Ruin and desolation. Such is the fate of those that stand against the will of the gods. Scant days ago, a shrine world dedicated to the false god, the corpse emperor, fell beneath the eternal might of the warp, the iron fist of Warlord Antathor of Pargegar. But this is not mere conquest for its own sake. Antathor has hungered for this prize long, as this world was once the site of a great battle, where his crusades which gorged Khorne with fresh blood, which left in their wake the rot and decay of Nurgle, which grew higher the infinite stacks of Tzeentch's library, which sang through the void Slaanesh's agony and ecstasy... It ended at the hands of the hated Imperium. And in the battle, the Daemon Prince Nemelek, Lady of Jezero, was felled after 2 millennia of glory. They dared to call the impudent murderer a saint, and dedicate this world to him. But the lady still awaits, bound here, and now Antathor, seeking to regain his old glory, seeks to free her. He promises that any who can perform a successful ritual to break her binds, to restore her strength, will be rewarded richly for unleashing her to once again conquer at his side. The leader of your cult answered this call immediately. Though they are a strange one, even by the standards of Chaos. Soft-spoken and obsessed with strange word games he calls “rebranding”, Melvin is persuasive to a degree that must show some favour of the gods, though which one is impossible to tell... He has nevertheless assembled a band of the diverse, the outcasts, the oddballs, and made of it something noteworthy. He is clearly a worthy leader, but he will need your help to prevail here." P.S. See the google document link on my profile for other possible Black Crusade games available to book
5.0
(5)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
7 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Creativity, Inclusive
Average response time: 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
Game Master Reviews (5)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Storytelling
Creativity
Inclusive
Joshua Blackburn-Hind
A great DM- He's DMed both Call of Cthulhu and Deathwatch for me, and both were very engaging and fleshed out worlds. In CoC he put a lot of time and research in a unique setting which was great fun to explore. I also played Pathfinder with him, and his unique characters are always a highlight.
Lassirrasta
Alex is an excellent GM who has run games for our friendship group for years. With a preference for his own brand of historical settings only made more wierd and supernatural, his games are both entertaining and engaging, with twists and turns and "the real story" of famous historical events being a delight to see unfold. That is not to say Alex sricks to his scripts rigidly however, and he values player expression paramount, creating new story improv seemlessly when players go off script or make an idea that sounds cooler. Alex is great with both experienced and newer players and I'd recommend him to anyone.
Thomas
Alex is a dedicated and skilled GM and it is a genuine pleasure to play with him. I have played multiple campaigns run by him, in a variety of settings and systems, and each one has been fantastic fun. He’s a brilliant storyteller, able to get me invested in both the main story of the campaign and the various side-quests and b-plots of the world, with both feeling as important and worthwhile as each other. His campaigns are very character driven, with a heavy focus on roleplay; both within the party and with the NPC’s. Whilst his combats are good and entertaining, the real drive is the character interactions. One highlight was an entire session where we the party, magical FBI agents, were forced to go to ground in a fast food restaurant, spent the three hour session locked in a heated debate about the situation we were trapped in and how we planned to get out of it with both our lives and morality intact. Alex’s ability to roll with the sort of random chaos players can bring to a session is one of the best I’ve seen. He’s able to readily improvise around our madness, and balances that wildness against the main plot exceedingly well. That same campaign included a rather disastrous attempt at arresting a casino manager, for reasons best left to mystery, whilst another player actually focused on the main mission. And still, things worked out well with both plots. Perhaps one of the best elements of Alex’s skillset as a GM has been his ability to balance a party. In all the campaigns I’ve played with him (six at this moment), nobody has felt the central character, or been overshadowed by another player. Each campaign, we’ve had our own sessions to shine, and special character beats and arcs, and all in all, they’ve felt equal and we shared the spotlight equally. He’s been able, which is probably the most admirable, has been to balance a team of characters who hate each other. Whilst we the players are all friends, he’s been able to keep our heads in the game, and has managed to balance the toxic attitude we have to each other in-character, and has managed a very safe space. In so far as recommendations, Alex runs very roleplay heavy games with tremendous ability, and whilst I personally prefer his more heavy and drama focused games, his adventure games are great fun. I would recommend Alex to anyone who wants a character driven game, whether it’s a space opera or sci-fi, horror, or fantasy. He runs a clean, safe game, where even in the heaviest and grimmest moments, we can still feel happy to play.
Lamaron
For over a decade now, I have played an assortment of RPGs with Alex as my DM. Starting with Fate, moving on to Unknown Armies, Pathfinder and other more niche systems, Alex has been an exemplary games master both online and in person. He has told stories in many formats and environments - from archetypical fantasy to modern day investigative dramas - and in each one he has been inclusive in both the environment created around the table and the ideas that can be incorporated into his narratives. If you want to expand from the typical table top plotlines, and into areas that will let you explore characters and worlds through play in a way only the medium of RPGs allow, Alex is the DM that you should pick.
Mopsey
Alex is very much the storyteller as a GM - I've played in a couple of games he's run and both were original plots in historical settings, complete with era-appropriate music and NPC cameos of real figures, though his original NPCs tend to be more fun to interact with. You can tell he has a number of threads up his sleeve, but not necessarily where those threads will lead. When we've used a system I'm less familiar or comfortable with he's always very patient with explaining mechanics as often as needed. Similarly, he's unfailingly kind when I totally blank on what my character should do, which is frequent in the more narrative-heavy games Alex specialises in.
Additional details
How to prepare
Players will need a microphone of some kind to talk through voice chat on a Discord server I'll provide, and while I heavily prefer players have a webcam and have it turned on, that won't be strictly necessary. Once you have access to the discord server, you can also get more access to the setting-specific documents I've prepared. I will be having discussions with any prospective players before accepting them into the game, so please be prepared to just briefly chat about what kind of game you want to play and questions are very welcomed so that we can all arrive at Session 0 prepared and without any illusions. I'll be giving everyone their consent checklist as part of that discussion, so that it can form the basis of our safety discussion in Session 0 as well, and so that anyone that struggles with the open discussion is still going to have their issues addressed. I can provide you with PDF copies of the rulebooks to look through, but you wouldn't need to read through any of it in advance, I am fine with teaching as we go.
What I provide
Firstly, for this game specifically, I am planning on running a short, self-contained arc as a sort of 'pilot episode' so that everyone can get more comfortable with the rest of the party, with the setting and system, and at the end of that arc I will have the option for people to continue into a fuller campaign, or if they prefer for any reason, to step away instead. More generally, my main focus as a GM is story and roleplay and I only write my own campaigns. I run an inclusive table, and actively encourage diverse player groups to bring different perspectives to the table. I use the rules as my base point, and will typically stick to them as written, or as homeruled in advance, but I am flexible enough to amend them when the rules prove to be at odds with everyone's enjoyment or with the kind of story being told. I tend to start hands-off, and allow my players as much freedom as possible to approach things as they wish, then make the scene responsive to your choices, focus most on what matters to you, and tailor each game, scene by scene to the party and the players. I love to do character work with my players if you struggle with fleshing out your character or need to know more about the scenario. I do character voices whenever possible and I encourage but don't require players to do the same. My challenges tend to be more based on social, political, or even philosophical difficulty, making difficult decisions and piecing together information. In general I do not kill player characters, but have more specific rules regarding that, see my profile for more information. I can provide access to PDF copies of the rulebooks for every game I run. I use Kenku FM to stream music through discord and always make a playlist, and I have a subscription to the Obsidian Portal campaign management tool, so my players can use it for free. Please see my profile for more details on all the above points!
Gameplay details
I use Red/Yellow/Green card in place of X/N/O's, and they can be messaged to me privately or said verbally. Session 0 will include creating characters together so we can discuss if anything we create crosses lines for others. I will be sending everyone a consent checklist prior to session 0 as part of first discussions with any potential players. It is incredibly important to fill this out in full, as there are a lot of potential triggers involved in a system like Black Crusade, it is necessarily about dealing with people who enjoy inflicting pain and misery. I can still tailor the content to people's sensibilities, as a lot of the campaign is still to be determined. So while other triggers may be introduced, I can use our discussions to avoid anything relevant to those at the table. The listed content warnings are just the things that are unavoidable with the premise and setting given. My Open Door policy is a general one, not just for safety measures, but for anything players would like to discuss. It's something I urge players to use if they have any safety concerns though, and I will never be upset if you come to me with a problem. I will be happy for the opportunity to help.
Content warnings
• Abuse
• Blood
• Body Horror
• Concentration Camps
• Cults
• Death
• Devils / Demons / Fiends
• Drugs (addiction, use, withdrawal)
• Emotional Abuse
• Execution
• Extreme Violence
• Fire
• Forced Blood Draining
• Genocide
• Gore
• Guns
• Hangings
• Hostages
• Human Trafficking (adult only)
• Illness
• Insects
• Kidnapping
• Language/Cursing
• Lifechanging Injury
• Mass Death
• Medical Issues
• Mind alteration
• Misogyny
• Murder
• Mutilation
• Mutilation of Corpses
• Prejudice
• Scars
• Self-Harm
• Sexism
• Slavery
• Suicide
• Terrorism
• Torture
• Uncanny Valley
• Violence
Safety tools used
• Aftercare
• Lines and Veils
• Luxton Technique
• Luxton Technique Discussion
• Monte Cook RPG Consent Checklist
• Open Door
• Session 0
• Stars and Wishes
• X, N, and O Cards
How will character creation work
Character creation will be done as a group as part of session 0. I encourage people to have a character concept ready, and would also recommend having more than one just in case, but the actual mechanics of character building will be gone through together over discord. This is so that players unfamiliar with the system get to take part in the process and learn as they go without feeling singled out, and so that everyone's characters complement each other. I will be otherwise doing character generation as per the core rulebook for Black Crusade, allocating points, rather than rolling. I am making one significant change though, that while you must pick a godly alignment to build your character with, you may have your character's roleplay alignment be different. For example, your character may be built as if they worship Nurgle, while actually worshipping Khorne instead. This is to allow people flexibility with what kind of character they want to play and build. Also, while I will be providing access to the splatbooks for additional character options, I am not allowing players to take the advanced character Archetypes found within those books, though they may be available if the campaign continues beyond the initial arc.
Players can expect
Combat / Tactics
Medium
Roleplay
Medium
Puzzles
Medium
Experience level
Open to all
Platforms used
• Discord
• Roll20
$25.00
/ Session
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Details
Weekly / Friday - 6:00 PM UTC
3-3.5 Hour duration
1 / 5 Seats filled
Requirements
Experience required: Open to all
Age: 18+