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Red Hand of Doom (with Draw Steel!)
The Red Hand marches east, leaving only ashes in its wake. Will you stop them before all of Elsir Vale burns?
TYPE
SYSTEM
LEVELS
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Wednesday - 11:30 PM UTC
Dec 17 / Session 6
Session Duration / 3–3.5 hours
4 / 5 Seats Filled
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Schedule
Meet your party members
4/5
About the adventure
In the heartland of Elsir Vale, peace is a fragile thing. For generations, scattered villages and frontier towns have held the line against the wild unknown. But now, a shadow moves. Smoke rises from the eastern mountains. Survivors whisper of burned homes, desecrated shrines, and the banner of a once-defeated army. They come without warning. They leave only ash. No one sees them twice. The rumors are true. The Red Hand marches again. You are not the chosen ones. You have no army. No kingdom backs you. But if you fall, the Vale falls with you. ________________________________________ About the Campaign In my opinion, Red Hand is one of the greatest campaigns ever written. Your characters face a full-scale invasion in an open world where choices matter. You'll battle warbands and defend strongholds, rally allies, or leave towns to burn, and shape the outcome of a war that's already begun. Although it was originally published for 3.5e. I am updating it here for MCDM’s Draw Steel, a modern TTRPG built for high-stakes action and player-driven storytelling. If you missed it during its original run, this is your chance to experience the legend. Rebuilt with modern mechanics. ________________________________________ What to Expect ⚔️ Tactical Combat: Challenging, cinematic encounters that reward teamwork, creativity, and have real consequences. 🌍 Setting and Narrative: Enter a region steeped in lore, rich with dramatic locations and compelling NPCs and dramatic story telling. All enhanced by high quality art, maps, and music. 🔥 Gritty Stakes You aren’t destined to win. Failures cost lives, and victories will reshape the Vale in your image. 🧰 Bonus Content I bring years of experience running this module, plus curated 3rd-party resources and the latest from MCDM’s evolving toolbox. ________________________________________ Why Draw Steel? Draw Steel is built for campaigns like this. With its emphasis on tactical depth, cinematic action, and NPC interaction, it captures both the sweeping narrative, and intimate tension of Red Hand of Doom If you are new to Draw Steel, or just want to know more about the system, that’s great! Our group welcomes new players, and I can help provide all the materials and support you need to get started.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Roleplay Heavy
Tactical / Crunchy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(16)
3 years on StartPlaying
222 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Storytelling
Average response time: Under 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
OK 👏Let’s do this. My name is Emil. • Bunnies are mathematically optimized pets. I will not be taking questions. • The best campaign in the world isn’t an AP, it’s the messy one your weird friend ran for you in high school. • Pineapple-anchovy pizza is delicious, but cowards will never know. I came of age in the baroque era of Third Edition and early Pathfinder. Combat was heavy and the rules for grappling required higher order math. All my handouts were barely disguised spreadsheets and my stories had enough teenage melodrama to fill a Tumblr archive. Twenty years later and systems are sleeker. I hide my spreadsheets better now, but the soap opera stuck. These days, I still love and run crunchy, tactical combat games. I also draw on the chaos of Powered by the Apocalypse and the weirdo brilliance of small-press zines. If you have been clutching a bizarre little game nobody else understands, good news! I’ve already devoured it, and I might even have a session prepped and lying in wait for you to ambush your unsuspecting friends with tonight. In the daytime, my alter ego is a teacher. Which might explain my obsession with rules, chaos, and watching characters run face first into obviously avoidable drama. It also means I love helping newcomers find their voice. Whatever your background or experience level, you can count on my table being a safe, welcoming place to learn, explore, and challenge yourself. So, if you are just starting out and worried about being too weird or not getting everything exactly right, congratulations. You are my new favorite. Let’s roll some dice and make some bad decisions.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
We will build level one characters as a group during session 0. I'll be there to answer questions and help anyone who needs it. However, If you are interested in getting an early start I'd be happy to work with you over discord as you are working out ideas.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Technical preparation: • The big thing here is that you need a computer with a stable internet connection and a reliable way for us to hear your voice. We are using Discord for audio. You can download it for free if you don’t have it already. The computer version works great if you have a microphone, otherwise, you can put it on your phone and use earbuds. You will also need to make a free account on Roll20.net. This doesn’t require any additional downloads. All services will be provided through the browser Social Preparation: • This is a game that we are all playing to have fun. You should be excited to play and also be excited for other people to join you and have fun as well. Players should arrive with an attitude of friendly cooperation. • Previous experience is not a requirement to join. However, players can prepare for the game by familiarizing themselves with basic gameplay concepts such as rolling different-sided dice and reviewing the Draw Steel Character Sheet One-on-one: • I’d like to schedule a short 10-15 minute conversation over Discord sometime before session 0. Just to introduce myself, answer any questions you might have, and smooth over any snags before we jump into the game.
What Emil brings to the table
I will bring the Converted adventure, core Draw Steel rules, supplemental materials, and a huge amount of enthusiasm. This is one of my all time favorite campaigns so I have a lot of experience playing and developing the setting. I will bring technical knowledge as well as passion to every session.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Emil creates a safe table
Red Hand of Doom is a story about resistance, sacrifice, and the price of war. Because of that, the campaign may include intense themes such as loss, desperation, and moral ambiguity. I believe these themes can be explored safely and respectfully without ever becoming overwhelming or graphic. However, it requires trust and clear communication between DM and players. When you sign up, I’ll send out a Lines and Veils form to help establish boundaries. In Session 0 we can use those responses as a starting point to talk about my DMing style; the overall tone we want to set for the game; and additional safety tools such as x-card and open-door policy. My goal is to create a space where we can tell a gritty, cinematic story while always keeping the players’ comfort and wellbeing front and center.
Content warnings
Safety tools used