StartPlaying logo
Red Hand of Doom

Red Hand of Doom

An army of dragon-worshipping monsters is coming...And hell rides with them! The best D&D 3.5 adventure ever written, remastered for Pathfinder 2e.

TYPE

Campaign

LEVELS

1–16

EXPERIENCE

Open to all

AGE

18+
About the adventure

An army of dragon-worshipping monsters is coming...And hell rides with them! The Wyrmsmoke Mountains shook with the thunder of ten thousand screaming hobgoblin soldiers, but one general defeated and united the tribes, emerging as a king. A king with ambitions! He stood upon a precipice and raised his arms. “I am Azarr Kul, Son of the Dragon! Hear me! Tomorrow we march to war!” The Red Hand of Doom was originally a D&D 3.5 adventure, but has now been remastered for Pathfinder 2e. Confronted with the relentless advance of Azarr Kul’s horde, the characters must undertake vital missions to influence the outcome of the war. Can they get the people of Elsir Vale evacuated to safety? Can they convince the nearby elves and dwarves to join the fight? Can they wage guerilla warfare to disrupt the inexorable advance of Azarr Kul and his army? Or will Azarr Kul’s dreams of domination rain death and destruction upon the human lands?

Game style

Combat Heavy

Roleplay Heavy

Rules as Written (RaW)

Game themes
2 NEEDED TO START
$22.00

/ Session

Details

Weekly / Thursday – 3:00 AM UTC

Campaign Length / 45–60 Sessions

3–3.5 Hour Duration

1 / 5 Seats Filled

GAME MASTER

Gamersaurus

he/him

5.0

(18)

This game will begin once 3 players have joined

Each player will be charged when a session starts.

Meet the Game Master

3 years on StartPlaying

218 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, World Builder

Average response time: 8 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 →
Reviews (18)

Proficiencies

Players say this GM is great at:

Creativity

Storytelling

World Builder

Jacob avatar

Jacob

Played 143 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 avatar

Lanasim

Played 56 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 avatar

Cynthia

Played 38 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 avatar

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 avatar

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 avatar

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 most classes, ancestries, and backgrounds are available. We'll be using the Free Archetype variant rule (which helps unify the party a bit). You can pick any ancestry feat you want and choose from a selection of archetype feats that are curated to better fit the theme of the campaign. I will also provide a custom User Guide to help creating a PC that will be a good fit for the campaign. 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

- Free account at ForgeVTT.com - Discord (join my server at https://discord.gg/adkCzF6S86 where I am u/GamersaurusLex) - Microphone (webcam optional) - Create your character (with my help if needed) in Pathbuilder or in FoundryVTT

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 pre-written module. I reward investigation, planning, and social interaction. Indeed, the more you know, the better armed you are for what might be lurking around the corner. 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. War is dangerous, but there is often a way to avoid combat, including strategic retreat, 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. Especially in a campaign where we are fighting a war, death is always one ambush away! 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 Demiplane's Pathfinder Nexus so you don't have to own the books, and I can import PCs from Pathbuilder. 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 and customized art from the original Pathfinder and Wizards of the COast modules (all of which I own).

Homebrew rules

* Keep hero point is new roll is lower. * Ronald the Rules Lawyer's version of Aid (more generous). * Ronald the Rules Lawyer's version of Recall Knowledge (more flexible).

Equipment needed to play

Computer

Internet

Headphones

Microphone

Platforms used
Safety
How Gamersaurus creates a safe table

We will establish guidelines and norms during our session zero, including what kinds of content will only ever take place "off screen" and the level of violence and carnage to be expected.

Content warnings
Animal Death
Blood
Character Death
Cults
Death
Devils / Demons / Fiends
Drowning
Hostages
Mind Control
Slavery
Snakes
Spiders
Violence
Safety tools used

Additional tables

1 available

1 SEAT LEFT

Weekly / Wednesday – 11:00 PM UTC

Jul 16 / Session 10

5 / 6 Seats Filled

Frequently asked questions

More upcoming games