[PBP] Iron & Ash: Monster Hunting in the Mists

Creating your character

The Birth of Hunter: Character creation is a collaborative process, you don't have to do it alone. Once you join, you'll receive access to our Discord, D&D Beyond campaign, and Foundry VTT server. We start at Level 3 so every hunter enters Xen'drik with their subclass and enough survivability to survive the first Hunt. Where you build depends on what you play: Standard classes & races → D&D Beyond. Content sharing is enabled, all core books included. We import directly into Foundry. Bender, Tamer or Ryoko subclasses → Built directly in Foundry. The modules are fully set up and ready. The Numbers: - Level 3 - Point Buy - 200 GP starting gold (Human Bonus: 300 GP) Permitted Content: - All official D&D 5e core books - Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting - Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms - The Griffon's Saddlebag Vol. 1 & 2 Your Backstory: We play on a new Frontier, all People have a reason why they are this far from the Civilisation, so you need one also. You don't have to write much. A few Bulletpoints are enough. Final Step: Once your sheet is ready, we do a quick one-on-one to check if all is fine and than your Adventure can start.

Preparing for the session

Install Discord and create an Account. Create an DnDBeyond Account. Have a Browser installed on your PC.

What Harlequin brings to the table

I asked my own players what I actually bring to the table, because I'm genuinely blind to it myself. What came back was the world and the people in it: a setting that's deeply worked out, and NPCs who have their own thing going on instead of reading off a card. They mentioned that I improvise when a session wanders somewhere I never planned for, that I actually bend the game around what players want rather than dragging them down a fixed track, and that I answer fast and stay patient, especially with anyone new to all this. Behind that sits twenty years of running games, a professional Foundry table with dynamic lighting, weather and sound, and automated combat (Midi-QOL / DAE) so nobody spends the night doing math by hand. I'm also a developer, so I run a custom D&D 5e rules helper on our Discord that gives fast, sourced answers when a rules question comes up mid-hunt. My table is rated 5.0 for storytelling, teaching, and being somewhere everyone's welcome.

Homebrew rules

I use following 3rd Party Content: - Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting - Ryoko's Guide to Yokai Realms - Griffon's Saddle Bag 1&2 Homebrew Rule: - Potion drinking as bonus Action and roll. - Potion drinking as Action, max heal.

How Harlequin creates a safe table

🛡️ Dark Stories, Safe Tables Xen'drik is gritty, oppressive, and morally compromised by design. Exploring those themes is only rewarding when everyone at the table has agreed on the boundaries. Here's how I make that happen. The Safety Toolkit — Built for Play-by-Post - X, N & O Cards: Post an emoji or message at any time. X stops and edits the scene. N fades to black. O signals you're good to continue. No explanation required, ever. - Lines & Veils: Before we start, I provide a digital consent checklist based on the Monte Cook RPG Consent Form. We establish what won't appear and what happens off-screen. - Open Door: My DMs are always open. Any post, any scene, any time — message me privately and we adjust. Asynchronous Session 0 Before the first post, we discuss: - The Rose System (debt slavery) and the White Madness (body horror) as setting elements - Your preferred balance of Grimdark vs. Heroism - Player-to-player boundaries and expectations around character conflict Content Warnings This campaign explores: - Classism & debt slavery — central to the setting's politics - Body horror — fungal infections, titan anatomy - PTSD & trauma — many NPCs are survivors of collapse - Corruption — magical and political Aftercare: Stars & Wishes Every month, players share a Star (a moment they loved) and a Wish (something they want to see or change). After heavy narrative arcs, I run a Pulse Check — in the group or via DM — to make sure everyone is still comfortable with the direction of the story.