Woundwish: The Voice Under the Stairs
Woundwish: A shifting arena where survival is brutal, legends are born in blood, and the rules of reality change with every scream.
$22.50
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Bi-weekly / Thursday - 3:00 AM UTC
Oct 15 / Session 7
Session Duration / 2.5–4 hours
4 / 5 Seats Filled
Top Game Master
One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Schedule
Meet your party members
4/5
About the adventure
**Woundwish is a high-level D&D 5e campaign about legendary gladiators who have already survived the meat grinder.** You are not fresh prisoners thrown into an arena for someone else’s amusement. You are champions: famous, dangerous, scarred, sponsored, feared, loved, and bound by blood, soul, contract, or something worse to the brutal holy spectacle known as Woundwish. The campaign begins in the uneasy comfort behind the arena walls. You have a home, allies, rivals, healers, handlers, fans, enemies, and maybe even a family trying very hard not to think about what you do for a living. The gods approve of Woundwish. The sponsors profit from it. The crowds adore it. And somewhere beneath all the roaring applause, something ancient is listening from the dark. This is not a straight PvP campaign, though the arena still matters. The party will investigate disappearances, navigate sponsors and factions, uncover what Woundwish is really feeding, and sometimes fight brutal exhibition matches where friendship, pride, survival, and public image collide. Player-versus-player scenes may happen, but they are part of the story, not the whole game. This game is best for players who enjoy high-level characters, dark fantasy, moral rot, dangerous politics, character drama, gallows humor, and cinematic combat. Expect a mix of roleplay, mystery, exploration, faction intrigue, horrifying revelations, and the occasional crowd-pleasing act of ultraviolence.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Roleplay Heavy
Meet the Game Master
4.9
(44)
1 year on StartPlaying
455 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Rule of Cool
Average response time: 5 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
I'm currently a House DM at The Kobold Lounge, where I run 3 homebrew campaigns for adults, as well as an introductory game for kids and another for teens. I started with a weekly game at my house. Shortly after I learned to play, I had to move. To keep up with my new hobby, I found and joined ahome game that was posted online. It was a terrible experience. Nobody at the table was having fun except for the DM, who delighted in playing against his party. His players looked and sounded bored, almost miserable; I never went back. Instead, I decided to start my own game with one goal: to make sure everyone has fun! -- If money is an obstacle, please DM me. I care more about us having fun than making money. I put a lot of effort into becoming the DM I am today, I make immersive, creative content that literally over a hundred players have loved & that's why I'm here. I'd like to make a living doing this, but I care about my players & that's never going to change.--- I started running my first homebrew D&D campaign in 2016. Since then I've engaged in collaborative storytelling with a ton of amazing players. I enjoy being a Sandbox DM, and I love players with unique ideas they want to try. My tables, physical and virtual, are the place to try out that crazy character idea or homebrewed subclass. I want to DM on StartPlaying to reach a wide player base, bring people together to have a blast, and provide opportunities for players everywhere to participate in my games.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
We'll go over specifics in detail during session 0, but due to the nature of this campaign we'll be using point buy or standard array for stats. Almost any content is fine, but character sheets will be reviewed thoroughly to avoid any gamebreaking/bending
What to expect
Preparing for the session
A discord and dndbeyond account are necessary, so is a microphone. A webcam isn't necessary but is encouraged.
What DM Nug Gnome brings to the table
I run cinematic, character-driven D&D with a strong mix of roleplay, tactical combat, dark humor, and big dramatic consequences. My games tend to feel like a fantasy war story crashed into a haunted carnival: dangerous, strange, funny at the worst possible moments, and full of characters who make terrible choices for understandable reasons. For Woundwish, I’ll provide a living high-level campaign setting built around gladiator culture, divine spectacle, faction politics, mystery, and brutal arena combat. Players can expect custom NPCs, rival champions, sponsors, strange gods, recurring enemies, moral complications, and a world that reacts to what the party does. Your character’s backstory, relationships, reputation, and public image will matter. At the table, I use character voices, visual references, maps when combat benefits from them, and theater of the mind when the scene is better served by momentum and imagination. Combat will often be tactical and dangerous, especially at this level, but I’m not here to “beat” the players. I want fights to feel memorable, cinematic, and earned, whether that means a desperate survival match, a political duel, or a monster crawling out of something that absolutely should not have been alive. Rules-wise, I respect 5.5e’s structure, but I am not allergic to the Rule of Cool. I try to be fair, consistent, and generous when players come up with smart, flavorful, or hilariously reckless ideas. If something bends the rules, I’ll usually look for a reasonable ruling that keeps the game moving without letting the whole system fall apart. Expect a collaborative table where character choices matter, consequences are real, and the best moments often come from leaning into the chaos together.
Homebrew rules
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpIO-GTrZSYB2FskTh4V2ANngNFcziey-E2t-AzllpY/edit?usp=sharing
Equipment needed to play
Microphone
Internet
Platforms used
Safety
How DM Nug Gnome creates a safe table
X cards are messaged, safety tools and triggers will be discussed in session 0
Content warnings
Safety tools used