Image by David Bartlett
What Lurks in the Wood? A living campaign set in Darkmoon Vale
In the company town of Falcon's Hollow, the Lumber Baron is king, & meddling adventurers are not welcome; despite the endless need for their services.
$15.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Friday - 4:00 PM UTC
Mar 6 / Session 1
Session Duration / 2–2.5 hours
Campaign Length / 5+ Sessions
2 / 5 Seats Filled
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Schedule
Meet your party members
2/5
About the adventure
Hi adventurers! I'm looking to start an open-ended, living Pathfinder 1e campaign set in Darkmoon Vale as soon as possible. Unlike most of my previous campaigns, I want to make this one gritty, and dark, where every copper, arrow and scrap of food counts, especially in the early days. If you join later — or your character dies — your backup character enters at Level 1 (Or 2 levels lower than party average if the core group starts to climb). Once three players signed on, we'll do a free session 0 to make characters, discuss rule tweaks, and put some lines and veils in place. I'd like to guarantee at least a five games for those who begin, with the plan to go for as long as folks want to. Potentially adding players along the way. This will largely be a sandbox for the players to explore the setting, but I do plan to incorporate the following published works in some way — and to varying degrees — depending on how the group directs the action: Hollow's Last Hope, Into The Haunted Forest, Crown of the Kobold King, Revenge of the Kobold King, Carnival of Tears, Hungry are the Dead, and of course The Guide to Darkmoon Vale. As well as the PFS scenarios The Pallid Plague and What The Helm Hides. I'll also introduce many of my own ideas, and those the players would like to include as well. But you can expect fey, animals, and natural hazards; Evil cults, druids of all persuasions, magical beasts, lots of lycanthropes and greedy, deceitful and despicable humanoids. Beginners welcome with caution, as some experience with RPGs would be an asset here. I want it to challenge players in several ways, but don't want to scare off newcomers who may expect a less forgiving game... ... Even if the folks around the table are friendly, loveable goofballs.
Game style
Roleplay Heavy
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Sandbox / Open World
Hexcrawl / Exploration
Dungeon Crawl
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(22)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
9 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Teacher, Inclusive
Average response time: 4 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
Greetings fellow gamers, I'm new to StartPlaying, but have been running games for more than 25 years, mostly d20 fantasy. For the last 15 years, I’ve mainly run Pathfinder 1e Adventure Paths for a stable of 20 regular players. I run a mix of monthly and weekly games, as well as limited-run games. Through the support of a kind and dedicated community, I was able to make this a small business during COVID, when I left my career in journalism. I currently run a variety of ongoing games including Pathfinder (1e and 2e), Delta Green, and Call of Cthulhu, and have just kicked off a World of Darkness game (Werewolf). I have run Blades in the Dark, Runequest and Traveller before and would like to play more of these games if interest exists. For the past four years I've supplemented my business with a 5e kids program (Summer camps and afterschool), but no longer have a venue for this. I'm currently looking for adult players for shorter games (1-5 sessions) to work toward forming groups for weekly, bi-weekly or monthly games starting in the New Year (2026) if not sooner. I'm a flexible and responsive GM, adapting to different styles and tones of play as needed. I love when story is king and lean toward narrative over mechanics. I try to be a benevolent GM and say yes to players whenever possible. I want to challenge my players, without punishing them.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Please come with a couple of ideas to the Session 0 when it happens, and feel free to reach out with questions in the meantime. But here are some important details to keep in mind: I'm typically an old softy as a GM, but in this case I want to be as strict and disciplined as possible to achieve the right tone for the setting. And to challenge myself to make the players 'work for it.' Point Buy Standard Fantasy (15 points), per page 16 of the Core Rule Book. No starting score above 16 or lower than 7, after racial adjustments. I'm working on a custom list of campaign traits, but you'll get a second (and a third with a drawback). You may also choose a skill at first level as a background skill but it has to be something that you used to make a living in someway before turning to adventuring, so: craft/profession/perform/survival or something of that ilk. But if you can (creatively) justify it, I'll pretty much accept any skill. You will get a free rank in that skill each level starting at first, but the skill cannot be changed once chosen. I'd prefer to start with core races, but will consider others. However any PF1e class (spell, feat, archetype etc) found on Archives of Nethys is typically available in my game. I always reserve the right to veto things that don't fit, but I rarely use it.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You'll need a Roll20 account, the desire to play as an underdog, and a dark sense of humour may help. A character idea or two, and the willingness to play, as game designer John Harper puts it "like your driving a stolen car." I want you to care about your characters, but not be afraid to lose them... hopefully in a meaningful and memorable way that tells a great story.
What Dave B brings to the table
A GM who is excited about this specific project/game. The opportunity to play a great, tried and true system with a GM who knows it, but with a strict discipline towards resources... where daily life can be a struggle. However, if you eventually become a successful adventurer as you hope, then life may just be as grand as you can make it. The chance to tell a great story, maybe make some new friends and immerse yourself into a scenario where you and your fellow players are not so much the stars, but candles in dark places. Optional sound fx/music through Syrinescape.
Homebrew rules
I have several typical rules, but I am inclined to go as RaW as possible this time. But options will be discussed at the Session 0.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Dave B creates a safe table
As I want this to be suspense/horror themed, we will definitely set lines and veils during the Session 0 and constantly check in with the players.
Content warnings
Safety tools used