Rise of the Runelords: A Varisian Saga

Rise of the Runelords: A Varisian Saga

The original and the best! Return to Varisia for this expanded exploration of the famous Rise of the Runelords adventure path.

TYPE

Campaign

LANGUAGE

English

EXPERIENCE

Open to all

AGE

All Ages
3 NEEDED TO START
$20.00

/ Session

Details

Bi-weekly / Thursday - 9:00 AM UTC

Session Duration / 3.5–4.5 hours

1 / 6 Seats Filled

Report Adventure

Money Back Guarantee

StartPlaying Money Back Guarantee

If your game doesn't happen, we guarantee a refund. Just reach out to StartPlaying Support. Refund Policy

Meet your party members

1/6

About the adventure

From the idyllically peaceful coastal town of Sandpoint to an ancient lost city at the top of the world, Rise of the Runelords takes a party of adventurers from 1st to over 20th level and delves into the mysteries of Varisia's ancient past. Millennia ago, the powerful empire of Thassilon ruled the land, dominated by despotic Runelords who maintained their power by harnessing the power of rune magic. Thought gone forever, the workings of Thassilon are not so far beneath the surface, and one of the Runelords plans a return to power. Only the brave adventurers stand in his way. Taking this even further, this epic weaves in elements of Second Darkness, Jade Regent, Shattered Star, and more to create a truly Varisia-spanning epic. ------------ You're looking at that list of modules and thinking "that is impossible". It is! I am not aiming to run four fully-fledged adventure paths concurrently, but rather to weave elements of them into one larger Varisia/Runelords-centred epic. To accommodate this, I'll be using both a modified advancement track and a liberal dash of homebrewing to ensure the modules do not lag behind your advancement. Even so, this is an ambitious task, so I'm looking for a group of players who are excited to tell an epic story, explore the Varisia region, and undertake something that will likely take us several years to complete. Along the way, we'll discover ancient secrets, combat foes both classic and new, and attain levels of power that will likely take you into the realms of mythic adventure. It's going to be huge.

Game themes

Meet the Game Master

5.0

(18)

DMs Guild Writer
Podcaster
LGBTQ+
Neurodivergent
Published Writer
Voice Actor
Game Designer

4 years on StartPlaying

120 games hosted

Highly rated for: Creativity, Knows the Rules, Teacher

Average response time: 6 hours

Response rate: 100%

About me

G'day! My name is Chris and I have been DMing games of Dungeons & Dragons for 26 years. I am a professional GameMaster running 40+ hours of PF1e and PF2e every week, with more than 50 paying customers spread across ten weekly campaigns. Not only do I have a pro subscription on Roll20, but I also own every available Roll20 resource for D&D 5e. I also own five Foundry VTT licenses with Forge hosting. Additionally, I have an extensive collection of tokens, a massive collection of high-quality battle maps, custom status tokens, a Syrinscape subscription, a private Discord server with a thriving community of more than 70 players, and a truly colossal collection of third-party reference materials (over 1,000 titles).

View Profile →
Character creation

Creating your character

Character creation guidelines will be provided upon sign-up, but these are pretty standard for the system. The major departures from the default Pathfinder experience include using the Unchained Action Economy, using a modified version of the Elephant in the Room feats system, and a primer on the region guiding the most thematically appropriate races and classes. We will be using traits that will be custom-built for the campaign.

What to expect

Preparing for the session

While you should wait until session zero to finalize your character, you're welcome to begin building your character as soon as you've had a chance to read the player's guide and character creation guidelines. You'll need a Roll20 account, Discord account, Forge account, and Syrinscape account to participate fully.

What Chris brings to the table

In addition to more than 26 years of DMing experience and 3+ years of professional DMing experience, I bring an exhaustive library of official and 3PP resources, five active servers on Forge, a dedicated Discord server with a community of more than 80 members, a Roll20 pro subscription, and a Syrinscape pro subscription. I am also a trained actor and professional writer.

Equipment needed to play

Computer

Headphones

Internet

Microphone

Safety

How Chris creates a safe table

All of my campaigns begin with a session zero in which we discuss potentially triggering content and safety tools, workshop how best to fit a character into the campaign's narrative, and I provide an overview of the campaign. We use Lines & Veils to categorize potentially troublesome content, with X/N/O cards for any incidences of in-game discomfort. I also provide after care.

Content warnings

Safety tools used

Frequently asked questions