Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
-Explore strange new levels -Navigate the rocky shoals of dungeon diplomacy -Overcome the Mad Mage and his minions -Fight for your lives!
$30.00
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Weekly / Saturday - 5:00 PM UTC
Oct 17 / Session 56
Session Duration / 3.5–4 hours
3 / 6 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
3/6
About the adventure
Venture down into the Yawning Portal and experience the epic realms of the Undermountain! 👀Explore strange new levels full of rare and wondrous sights 🤝Navigate the rocky shoals of dungeon diplomacy 🧙♂️Overcome the Mad Mage and his minions 🗡️Fight for your lives! About the campaign: Characters start at Level 5. My table is welcoming to all, beginners and veterans alike, and is inclusive and LGBTQ+ friendly. The campaign will run on FoundryVTT, using the same full-color, beautifully illustrated maps by Jesper Cyren which were featured in the Marathon of the Mad Mage livestream. About me: I am one of the seven DMs who ran the Marathon of the Mad Mage - a 440 hour, livestreamed D&D session which set the world record for longest continuous session in D&D history - and I am looking forward to guiding more players through this classic megadungeon. This campaign will have a balance of roleplaying, exploration, and combat. I particularly enjoy the roleplaying and political aspects of the Undermountain and I am known for creating unforgettable NPCs. I run fast, engaging combats in which the enemies behave intelligently and players are rewarded for making the best use of both tactics and creativity. I am also known for throwing a bit of homebrew into every module I run, just to keep things interesting.
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(36)
4 years on StartPlaying
876 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Beginner Friendly
Average response time: 3 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hello! I'm Neal, and I've been playing and running RPGs since high school. I love roleplaying and entertaining, and I've pursued a career in adjacent fields such as theatre and education, but with the rise of online gaming I've decided to take my hobby to the next level. I was born and raised in New York, where I worked in the theatre industry throughout my 20's until I decided it was time for a more radical change in scenery. I moved to the country of Georgia and became a teacher, drawing on my theatre experience to teach subjects such as Design and Drama. After more than a decade teaching, the pandemic showed me that remote work was definitely my jam. I've been running games online since 2020 and I love the experience. I've set up a discord server and a cloud-hosted Foundry VTT installation, which I've tailored to my DMing style using a variety of add-on modules. My games are designed to be approachable and beginner-friendly and to foster meaningful roleplaying experiences in which player characters have an important place in the setting and players have the opportunity to add to the world with creative input.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Characters are created on DndBeyond, where I have all content options unlocked and share these with players in my campaigns. Characters start at level 5 with standard starting equipment plus 500 gp and one common magical item.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Players will need a mic and a good internet connection. We will play over Discord and FoundryVTT, which operates through a standard web browser. I will offer help with character creation for beginner players.
What Neal Z brings to the table
I bring my Discord server and Foundry cloud service, access to character creation options from all published sources and some homebrews, maps, modules, and homebrew materials, and occasional dad jokes.
Homebrew rules
Fast Combat Rules: 1. Act quickly - stay engaged and be ready to act when called on 2. Limit table-talk - Once initiative is rolled, your characters don't have time to debate strategy and tactics anymore 3. Commit to your decisions - once you've done something it usually won't be retconned, unless it was based on an out-of-character misunderstanding. 4. Mob Attack Rule - when rolling multiple identical attacks, I'll combine them into one roll for the sake of speed and threat (mechanically, this is similar to MCDM's minion/group attack roll). Crunchy Crits: critical dice are always maximized - e.g. a crit with a longsword does 1d8+8, rather than 2d8 Healing Potions: Full action, Full heal. You can drink a healing potion as a Bonus Action per standard rules, or drink it as a regular action to get maximum healing.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Headphones
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Neal Z creates a safe table
Players will be invited to my Discord server for pre-game discussion and review of expectations, Lines and Veils, character creation rules, and house rules. We will use simple house rules for fast combat, monster knowledge, and bargaining, which will be provided before the game. Characters should be created in a way that will foster teamwork within the party, and PvP is strictly limited to specific cases where both players agree in advance to a contest.
Content warnings
Safety tools used