Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Explore a classic dungeon crawl located beneath the city of Waterdeep. What secrets and treasures lie below?
$15.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Thursday - 5:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3 hours
1 / 5 Seats Filled
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Meet your party members
1/5
About the adventure
The Yawning Portal, a famous inn and tavern located near the eastern slope of Mount Waterdeep, it is here that many adventurers will pay the tavern owner Durnan a gold piece for a shot and chance at descending down into the portal that gives the inn its name for a chance to explore for treasure and to fight any number of strange beasts and monsters that dwell below in the Underdark. Legend holds that more than one thousand years ago, the wizard Halaster Blackcloak journeyed from a distant land to the base of Mount Waterdeep, perhaps acceding to the whispered summons of providence. Some believe he hailed from the nearly forgotten empire known as the Cradlelands. Whatever the case may be, Halaster and his apprentices delved deep into the mountain, exploring the magics and ruins of drow and duergar. Some will say that Halaster went too far with his mystic studies, that it drove him to madness and obsession. In time, the city now known as Waterdeep developed in the shadow of Mount Waterdeep and spread down to the harbor. As the city sprawled outward over the years, it came to surround the ruins of Halaster’s home. Undermountain was known to those early settlers, and they often sent criminals into its endless depths as punishment. So it was for many years, until an intrepid adventurer named Durnan delved into the labyrinth beneath the tower and returned alive, laden with riches and countless harrowing tales. Durnan used his new fortune to demolish the remnants of Halaster’s tower and built an inn over the well he had used to descend into Undermountain, and called it the Yawning Portal. Durnan owns and operates the inn and tavern to this day, serving patrons and inviting the brave and foolish alike to test their mettle in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Dungeon Crawl
Roleplay Lite
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Rules as Written (RaW)
Theater of the Mind
Combat Lite
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(47)
3 years on StartPlaying
808 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Knows the Rules, Teacher
Average response time: 5 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
I am a long-time DM/GM/Storyteller and player since the mid-'90s. I have run a variety of games over the years both tabletop and online from Palladium Fantasy, Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, Word of Darkness with Werewolf the Apocalypse and Changeling the Dreaming, new Chronicles of Darkness for Hunter the Vigil and Changeling the Lost, and of course, D&D with 3.5 and 5th edition, mainly for the Eberron and Forgotten Realms settings and homebrew. I strive for role-playing and have run games that lean more combat-heavy or more RP-intensive, depending on who's at the table. So far, I have completed 4 Lost Mines of Phandelver adventures, 1 Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, 1 Dragon of Icespire Peak. 2 Tyranny of Dragons campaigns completed & 2 Eberron campaigns to level 20 completed. There are currently 4 other campaigns taking parties to 20th level and closing in on that milestone. I have several games a week I run for.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Characters need to be made with point buy. All characters will begin at level five. If a player comes in at later sessions, we'll get them adjusted to the current levels in the game. Bear in mind characters will need to be from Forgotten Realms and the Sword Coast region. Please stick to the use of the Player's Guide, Sword Coast Adventure Guide, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Fizzban's, and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. If there is something you want such as the Haunted background, just let me know.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Players will need to have internet, computer, a mic, and a place with minimal interruptions. Bring your spirit of adventure, the more you're willing to interact, the richer the rp can be. Plus notes, take notes there's only so much I can do from my end with NPCs met and current objectives if players don't take notes either. Maybe something was important to you and you can ask about that later. D&D Beyond will be used for storing character sheets. If you want your own paper, physical copy of a character sheet, go for it, just keep it up to date with the site. AboveVTT for the Battlemaps
What Anna brings to the table
The prepared adventure and flexibility as every player/character will respond differently to circumstances. I have a wide variety of books and access to D&D Beyond.
Homebrew rules
I do try to stick to RAW/RAI with many rules listed on Discord as clarifications and FAQs where there are gray areas. The list of Homebrews are on the Discord and often involve clarifying FAQs and Gray Areas that are not always covered.
Equipment needed to play
Computer
Internet
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Anna creates a safe table
I try to be a good narrator and describe the action. I get that different players will have different levels of role-playing ability and experience. This is a fantasy game centered on fantasy violence, exploration, and a classic dungeon-crawl style and feel. There will be a lot of fantasy tropes used. If I know you have children who may be present and can overhear people on Discord, we'll aim to keep the language clean. Mostly PG-13 rating. While I can think I have all bases covered, the important thing is to speak up, as communication is key.
Content warnings
Safety tools used