Image by Giorgio Vasari
City State of the Invincible Overlord: A Campaign
In a city thousands of years old, ruled by an evil overlord, your heroes will either hide in the shadows or rise up and become shining beacons of hope
TYPE
SYSTEM
EXPERIENCE
AGE
About the adventure
If you want an urban fantasy campaign that's at turns gonzo wacky, dark and dangerous, and complex and conspiratorial - you know, Old School! - then this might be for you. The City State of the Invincible Overlord was the first sold product of Judges Guild in 1976 and the first glimpse anyone outside of a small circle of friends had of the campaign setting known as The Wilderlands. It is a city to be explored, a city of adventures, and a city of hundreds of personalities. And possibly just the start of a wider exploration of the Wilderlands!
Game style
Rules as Written (RaW)
Roleplay Heavy
Combat Heavy
Dungeon Crawl
Game themes
$11.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Saturday – 4:30 PM UTC
Jul 26 / Session 12
4–4.5 Hour Duration
4 / 8 Seats Filled
GAME MASTER
Melissakainen
5.0
(11)
Schedule
Each player will be charged when a session starts.
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(11)
1 year on StartPlaying
19 games hosted
Highly rated for: Knows the Rules, Inclusive, Storytelling
About me
You travel 60' down a 10' wide corridor. At a 4-way intersection you encounter me. The encounter reaction is friendly! From me you learn the following rumors: 1. I have been playing D&D since the B/X edition and DMing most of that time (T). 2. I once dressed as a minotaur for Halloween (F - but I wish!). 3. I was published in Dragon magazine once, in the TSR days (T). 4. I have written published modules and accessories for several small gaming companies (T). 5. I own the world's largest d20 (F - where would I store it??). 6. I am a self-published game designer, my game is the best supported game you've never heard of (almost surely T). 7. I am here to run Old School games that are fun, challenging, and rewarding, using theater of the mind and low-tech props over Zoom (T). 8. This was all a trick! Roll for initiative!
View Profile →Reviews (11)
Proficiencies
Players say this GM is great at:
Knows the Rules
Inclusive
Storytelling
The Dungeon Deacon
Played 10 sessions
Melissa is an "Old School" player who likes to create an immersive environment for the players. Exploration and player focused arcs with great themes and sub plots create lots of ways for players to interact. Melissa likes to rely on theatre of the mind but does a great job of writing up encounters and keeping the players informed of what's going on. I've played using several systems and genres with Melissa and all of them were great.
Stephen
Played 8 sessions
Melissa is a true scholar of old-school play! She has an extensive knowledge of the rules and their evolution through the history of D&D. She is also very good at explaining those rules, and is inclusive of everyone, beginners and experts alike. She ran a city adventure for us and managed to evoke the scale and rich details of the city without overwhelming us with information. She is receptive to the players' ideas and gives them true freedom of action. Plus, her NPCs were full of flavour and personality. All-around a great experience!
Gerry
Played 4 sessions
Very kind and understanding. Willing to play the less well-known systems.
Chris
Played 1 sessions
Mechanics: Melissa possesses an exceptional knowledge of the rules AND sourcing, such as year a rule was introduced and in what publication. Melissa tastefully sprinkled these details throughout the adventure during DM decisions. This added a dimension to the game I really enjoyed, especially when playing a piece of history like 0D&D. A lot of my interest in 0D&D is getting to experience the early game and the content of the time so the session was exactly what I was hoping for. Great sense of humor — I found the game very entertaining, with subtle humor that was below the surface and didn’t overpower or make the game goofy. Melissa has a great ability to blend multiple facets, it was perfect. I found the amount of role playing perfect, enhanced the game experience without being too much or too little. Our group had never played together, and varied widely in experience. I thought it was probably a pretty challenging group to DM, but it never seemed that way as Melissa handled the group well, slickly moving us forward at times or to a decision at times with kind of the perfect ‘dm nudge’ to bring something to a vote, or running with a players action and moving forward. Melissa's games are truly an amazing opportunity to experience original rules and settings. In conclusion, Melissa excels at bringing all the above elements together and modulating everything, to the moment and to group. I would not hesitate to recommend booking this DM.
toadvine
Played 1 sessions
Melissa rocks. great game. she does the role playing of npcs very well. pacing was perfect. can’t wait to get into another game with her.
MomentoDave
Played 1 sessions
Melissa had a great game with a classic old school D&D dungeon crawl! Highly recommend.
Character creation
Creating your character
Starting level may vary over time for new characters and we will discuss this on an individual basis. You may submit your own rolled up OD&D character, using the original 1974 booklets + Supplements I-III, or we will work together to make the character, or you can even submit a character from a later ruleset and I will help modify it appropriately.
The party currently consists of third to fourth level characters (no one started at level 1).
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You will need a webcam and a mic; it would be ideal to test them on Google Meet before the game. You do not need to have read the rules, but it would not hurt. You will be rolling dice on your end (honor system). You should also have graph paper for mapping!
What Melissakainen brings to the table
I will be bringing my imagination! My dice, game books, and maps will be right here with me. There may be visual aids sometimes, but it will largely be theater of the mind.
Homebrew rules
OD&D requires more interpretation than rules revision. That said, I have tweaked some things and created additional mechanics for handling downtime.
Equipment needed to play
Webcam
Internet
Platforms used
Safety
How Melissakainen creates a safe table
Players can expect to quickly pick up the 0e D&D (1976) rules. Game play will be largely roleplaying, then exploration, killing, looting, and problem solving in that order. Every session will begin with a short "session 0," discussing expectations, things you need to know, and character generation (unless you opt to play a pre-gen).
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