Mavens of Mystery
People have been going missing by the hundreds. Do you have what it takes to uncover the truth of what is behind all of it?
$10.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Friday - 1:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 4–5 hours
Campaign Length / 50+ Sessions
3 / 5 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
Please note: this is an ongoing campaign and the group are now Level 10. If you want to join, you will have to pass an interview to be held by the other players. ————————————————————— In Mavens of Mystery, you and your fellow players will face an invasive force creeping into the lands. We will be focusing on small scale scope, such as the relationship between a network of villages, a few scattered remains of fallen Bastions, local heroes and villains. But be sure that if you do not act quickly and with intent, the dangers could grow to a world-ending apocalypse! Everything in this campaign will be timed! You are working against the clock to save locals from an extremely dangerous series of events. But missing a clock does not end the game - it merely means that events occur in the background that push the story further down the line until, one clock will be all that is between the world and total annihilation. Combats will be short and devastating. There is a homebrew "Encounter Mechanism" that will shift the dynamic focus of a combat or social encounter should certain thresholds be reached. This means, there should be no standard swing-miss, swing-miss feel to combat. I want the players to be creative. Inspiration will be used, however it can be "stocked" like any other resource, up to a maximum of one-half the character level (so at Level 3, when the game starts, you will still be limited to 1 point). Mechanics for Inspiration have also been changed: you can use them for Re-Rolls. You will also get Hero Points for moments of great role-play, creative use of magic, mapping adventures, keeping group notes, phenomenal team work, and any other reason the DM decides upon. There Hero Points can be used to slightly alter the flow of the game by making a creative change in the story as it occurs. For example, a Fight who lost her sword earlier can say "I happen to find a well-made sword in this raided this armoury. Too bad the looters missed it; it's mine now!" Other changes to the game can be found on the Discord channel, but these are the major ones.
Game style
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Combat Heavy
Roleplay Heavy
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Theater of the Mind
Tactical / Crunchy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(25)
2 years on StartPlaying
76 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, World Builder
About me
Greetings and Salutations! I run a lot more games than are listed on my profile here, so if you don't see something, no worries: here is what I am currently running so you can look it up and join us! I am a professional game designer with nearly 40 years experience with myriad RPG systems. Warhammer was my first game, and it has been a passion of mine ever since. After that, I discovered TMNT & Other Strangeness, as well as the other Palladium Books RPGs they had out at the time (Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, Palladium Fantasy, et al). I also experimented with GURPS, Paranoia, various comic book RPGs including Marvel FASERIP, Shadowrun and quite a few others. All told, I have run at least 200 different RPGs between then and the intervening years up to these modern nights. For those in the know, I was heavily involved with the Camarilla, and when I lost interest playing with them, I wrote my own rules based off of Laws of the Wyld, and ran a Werewolf: the Apocalypse LARP for a goodly number of years. I miss my LARPing years with the vigour of an Adren Fianna or a Silver Fang Galliard. My last RPG design effort was The Aethyrblood Chronicles (TABC), a cosmic horror/supers game. I am now designing a system agnostic rules set using revised mechanics that I developed for TABC, I will be looking for official playtesters soon. Message me if you are interested. I look forward to hearing from you, and together we will rule the universe with the power of the Dark Si.... well, together we can craft some most excellent stories. Let's wonder for a spell!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
You will make a character with a non-standard array of the following Ability Scores, placed in any order you desire for your character: 16, 14, 13, 13, 12, 10. We will be starting at Level 3, so everyone will get to select a subclass. Legacy races are allowed. 2024 Classes only, please. Feel free to use any book available on D&D Beyond for character creation. Everyone begins with 2 Common Magic Items. Also, begin with standard equipment, plus have an addition 3d6x10 in assorted gold, silver, copper, and gemstones.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Please read all available information for players and characters within the appropriate Discord sections. You will need a mic that is in good working order. It doesn't have to be expensive - it just needs to work and sound great.
What Eiric E. Padráig brings to the table
I have been running ttrpgs since '82. I got started with D&D Red Box and then moved to 2nd Edition pretty quickly. But I have played every edition of D&D ever conceived. I am also a professional game designer. I can promise you a unique world with a cast of varied NPCs. I cannot do voices very well, but I make up for it with inflection and dialect. I own most all content on D&D Beyond, and it will all be available for the player character creation during Session Zero. Mavens of Mystery will be a survival game, wherein you have to track every arrow, every ration, and every coin. I expect players to take excellent notes for their own characters, what they have on them, what is in their Bastion (once we hit Level 5), and the names and deets on important character we come across during our journey.
Homebrew rules
You may stack your Inspiration rewards up to a maximum number of times equal to your CHA modifier. Inspirations give you a chance to re-roll a failed roll OR to roll with Advantage, player's choice. Flanking rules engaged. If two allies are across from each other, flanking an enemy, both the player characters gain Advantage on their Attack Rolls. Enemies can also use this tactic. Under Other Activities (see the Basics of Adventure, link above), Drawing a Map requires a Passive Intelligence (Investigation) Check at a DC of 13 plus 1 for every day of travel. If the Map is marked by the hour it is instead considered an actual Intelligence (Investigation) Check starting at DC 14, plus 1 per hour. Ties during the Initiative Order are settled by the party with the highest Dexterity Modifier acting first. If it is still a tie, compare the Dexterity Ability Scores. If it is still a tie, compare the Wisdom Ability Scores. If at this point, you still have a tie, simply have both parties roll an unmodified d20. And if that does not work, both parties are stunned during the first round of combat. A square on the Battlemat that is occupied by any allied character or creature that is Friendly (this includes non-combatants that are Friendly to you, summoned creatures, and familiars) are not treated as difficult terrain under any circumstances. A square occupied with a Small or smaller character or creature can be shared with a Medium character or creature. The Cantrips that require an action to cast and then tell the caster that they cannot use the spell's effect until the following round can now be cast as a Bonus Action.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Microphone
Headphones
Platforms used
Safety
How Eiric E. Padráig creates a safe table
During Session Zero, we will discuss the setting, how it will be growing based upon how players interact with it. We will also cover Aftercare and Debriefing expectations at that time. But basically, I will address the group after the game, every session, and get a feel for how the players grok the session that day (this is why the game session time is set for 5 hours). Each game will feature at least one ten minute break and the half-way mark. My Open Door policy is that any player at any time can message me and say anything without fear of being called out in any way. I can't fix a problem if I am unaware of it. And while it says "Stars and Wishes", I call it "Rose, Bud, Thorn". A Rose for something enjoyed in the game, a Bud for something wanted in the campaign down the road, and a Thorn for anything that is disliked.
Content warnings
Safety tools used