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[PBP] Iron & Ash: Monster Hunting in the Mists
Slay colossal Yansheen. Harvest titan parts to forge apex gear with Heliana’s rules. Master the hunt in a lethal Magitech waste. Track. Kill. Craft.
$15.00
/ Session
Details
Play by Post (Asynchronous)
Billed Weekly / Monday - 6:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 2–8 hours
0 / 3 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
[PBP] Iron & Ash: Monster Hunting in the Mists "In the mists of Xen'drik, silence is a survival strategy and every legendary blade is paid for in blood." ⚔️ Monster Hunter DNA: Track. Kill. Craft. This is not standard D&D. Iron & Ash is built on the full mechanical depth of Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting and Ryoko's Guide to the Yokai Realms. The Hunt: Every Yansheen is a multi-stage challenge. Research weaknesses, read the environment, set the trap. Tactical Boss Fights: Monsters adapt mid-fight, gain and lose abilities, and punish recklessness. No tank and spank. Deep Crafting: Harvest titan essence to forge legendary, evolving gear unique to your hunter — earned in blood, grown over time. 🌍 One World. Multiple Hunters. Your Choices Matter. Iron & Ash is not a single campaign. It is a shared, living universe. Multiple hunter groups operate simultaneously across the same Xen'drik. What one group does, the other groups feel. A monster driven from its territory by one party becomes another group's emergency. A political alliance forged in one session reshapes the factions every hunter has to deal with. A World That Remembers: Every decision leaves a mark — not just for your group, but for every hunter active on the continent. Your Hunter, Your Choice: Permanent group transfers are possible. If your schedule changes or you want a different experience, your character moves with you. Nothing is lost. Shared Lore: A living Wiki on Discord tracks world events, faction states, and known hunts. What other groups discover, you can find. Cross-group events are in development — when two groups' stories collide, they will meet. 💻 A Professional Foundry VTT Experience Most PbP games are text in a Discord channel. This isn't that. 24/7 Server Access: Log in anytime — explore interactive maps, manage inventory, browse automated shops via Item Piles. Full Automation: Midi-QOL and DAE handle the math. Combat is fast, cinematic, and focused on your decisions — not manual bookkeeping. Atmospheric Environments: Custom scene art, dynamic lighting, weather effects, and soundscapes that evolve with the story. Reliability: I guarantee a post on five out of seven days. You always know where you stand. 🛠️ Game Details System: D&D 5e + Heliana's Monster Hunting & Ryoko's Yokai Expansions Starting Level: 3 Tone: Gritty Magitech Noir / Tactical Monster Hunting Safety: Inclusive table — X-Card, Lines & Veils, Session 0 included
Game style
Roleplay Heavy
Play By Post
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Sandbox / Open World
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(6)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
3 games hosted
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Teacher, Storytelling
About me
My GM Style: The "Living World" Director I've been running tabletop RPGs for 20 years, across multiple systems and settings. Today I run them professionally — which for me means one thing above all: you can rely on what you're paying for. A reactive, living world I run sandbox-style games where player decisions carry real weight. Your character's backstory isn't decoration — I weave it into the plot. Grudges resurface. Mercy earns allies. There are no invisible walls: you choose the approach, whether that's diplomacy, stealth, or force, and the world responds accordingly. Reliable, structured play Professional GMing is a service, and I treat it like one. I commit to a clear posting schedule and keep to it. Onboarding is documented and structured, so you spend your time playing, not figuring out logistics. If something needs adjusting, my DMs are open and I respond. Technical depth I run a fully set-up Foundry VTT environment — 24/7 access, automation that handles the bookkeeping, atmospheric maps and lighting. The goal is simple: keep the focus on your decisions and the story, not on manual math. Fair play, clear stakes I run grim and gritty, but transparent. Actions have consequences, and I communicate difficulty openly so you can make informed, tactical choices. Curiosity is rewarded; recklessness plays out realistically. I use safety tools at every table so the experience stays respectful, whatever the tone of the story.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
🛠️ Forge Your Hunter Character creation is a collaborative process — you don't 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 mist. 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 — Xen'drik rewards the resourceful. 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: Your hunter needs a reason to be this far from civilization — fortune, survival, obsession. Fit the Noir tone. A few bullet points or a short page is enough. Final Step: Once your sheet is ready, we do a quick one-on-one to optimize your loadout for the hunt.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Install Discord and create an Account. Create an DnDBeyond Account. Have a Browser installed on your PC.
What Lars brings to the table
🛠️ What Lars Brings to the Table Every Post is a Sensory Experience I don't describe rooms — I describe the scent of brackish water and stale tobacco in a Ship's End dive, the rhythmic grinding of industrial gears in Eisenheim, the unsettling violet glow of a planar rift at midnight. Every post is written to pull you deeper into the Xen'drik Noir aesthetic. The Foundry Setup You Won't Find Elsewhere Midi-QOL, DAE, Item Piles, dynamic lighting, weather effects, custom soundscapes — fully configured and running 24/7. You don't manage modules. You hunt. NPCs With Agendas Nobody in this world is a quest-giver. The cold bureaucrats of the Commission, the desperate Roses in the slums, the hunters who came before you and didn't make it back — every character has a voice, a motive, and a memory. Your choices ripple. Safety as Standard X-Card, Lines & Veils, Session 0, Stars & Wishes — built into every campaign, not offered as an option. Dark world, safe table.
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.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Platforms used
Safety
How Lars 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.
Content warnings
Safety tools used