Back on Terror Firma - A Mojave Monster Hunting Campaign
Scatterings of fist sized rubble, launched with immense force. Dust clouds billowing from town into the Mojave at night. Something is sniffing around.
$17.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Wednesday - 2:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
0 / 4 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
Boulder City isn't why people come to Nevada. To most it's where you go when Vegas proves too much. Where half the residents sift along, living out of trailers, apartments, or even the few ratty motels. While the other half reside in their opulent dessert castles just up the road, retired, until their life ends, and their resources sink into the dessert sand with them. The only people that know Boulder City exists, are the people that live here. You are one of those people. For whatever reason, events in your life, have landed you half way between Vegas and the Hoover Dam, aka, nowhere in particular. It's quaint enough. The undeniable feeling of smallness hangs around your mind like a veil. Sometimes, at the outskirts, without the insignificant structures to obstruct your view, you find yourself looking at the horizon. A massive openness, where terra quickly gives way to all consuming sky-distant clouds dispensing rain anywhere but here. When the sun is extinguished, pure inky darkness, absorbs the miles and miles of rocky terrain, the silent movements of nocturnal creatures skittering and sliding invisible whisper at the dark corners of your mind. Something. It's out there. Looking out of the murk. You realize how well lit you are, and suddenly the warmth and limited vision of the street lamp is far less comforting, as Something, treads through swells of black, it's weight pushing it aside as it's intent narrows on You. Perhaps you have known this fear, you have seen it first hand, been scarred and shaped by it. Perhaps not, and the unknown is simply something extrapolated in movies and books. A fantasy. Neither will save you. For in the end, a Monster can-and will remind you, how mortal you truly are. Back on Terror Firma revolves around a series of archs, each arch a new monster appears, revealing another layer to the mystery at hand. The hunters are connected to the events in one way or another, and each arch will spotlight one of the hunters, dredging up their sordid past or even prophesied future. In this way Back on Terror Firma is not simply a plug and play game but one where the characters, your character, is a pivotal focus and force propelling the story forward. This game, in a way, is waiting for your character, to fully awaken.
Game style
Roleplay Heavy
Rules as Written (RaW)
Puzzle / Mystery Focused
Combat Lite
Theater of the Mind
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(1)
2 years on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Creativity, World Builder, Voices
About me
Writer, Artist, Idiot Extraordinaire! I put players' stories first when crafting an over arching plot. Think of me as the wind behind your sails, when I'm gone, it's because I want you to die at sea. So please, come kick Death right in it's bony arse!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation in Monster of the Week consists of Playbooks. A Playbook is what you would call a Class in other TTRPGs. Filling out a Playbook is as simple as checking boxes. No rolling involved. So the first step is perusing your options! This link provides the basic playbooks. If you are new to Monster of the Week I'd recommend choosing one of these. https://evilhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Monster-of-the-Week-Revised-Playbooks-Formfillable.pdf If you are NOT new to the system, or you're braver...or you are someone who is never satisfied knowing there are more options, here is a link to the others. https://evilhat.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Monster-of-the-Week-Hunter-Playbooks-Consolidated-2025.pdf I am open to anything as long as the goal is fun. Anyone hoping to pick the strongest playbook may not get the green-light, but I can be convinced. I have run for a Summoned (a playbook based on Hellboy...they can throw cars) and it made for some amazing scenes. The player also didn't try to break the game. Other than the mechanics I'd highly recommend referencing media within the trope. Monster of the Week IS the trope. So look to things like Stranger Things, Buffy, Supernatural, and even Scooby Doo for inspiration when creating a character concept. Otherwise, the description for the game is the best reference for the setting. Players will be able to message me on the discord server whenever they like and if anyone arrives later or is still shaky on details, everything can be ironed out in session zero.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
During this game we will be using Discord for communication, and Roll20 when visuals are needed.
What Jonas brings to the table
As a GM I bring an intuitive story minded approach to every session. My prep often involves writing descriptive scenes, creating maps, occasionally recording scripted dialogue, and even creating my own art for NPCs as well as practicing how those NPCs will sound and talk. Most importantly I spend most of my time creating personal conflict specific to the characters involved. Monster of the Week's mechanics are story based and thus will be stuck to, which isn't exactly strict, seeing as these same mechanic resolutions are open ended.
Homebrew rules
There are no Homebrew Rules! Yay! Less reading!
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Jonas creates a safe table
This is a Horror game, albeit a lighthearted adventurous one. My aim will be to make scary scenes scary. The content warnings may not include everything and should be viewed as most likely possible. Except for clowns. The chances of clowns is not planned, but never 0. Unless its a problem. In which case it is-exactly 0. Players can provide safety measures and things to avoid on a specific channel of the Discord server for ease of reference for myself and other players. At the end of a session players go over a check list to see what goals were achieved and gain additional XP. In the case of Debriefing, I may lose XP for traumatizing my players. (A joke.)(We'll go over anything that may not have come up during the session.)
Content warnings
Safety tools used