Broken Telos: 5e Grimdark Horror Fantasy Sandbox, 1-20
The Shadow of a great evil looms over the Realms. War and treachery devour the lands. The Horrors of War awaken ancient Demons thought to be long dead
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Thursday - 9:30 PM UTC
Session Duration / 2–3 hours
Campaign Length / 9+ Sessions
0 / 5 Seats Filled
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About the adventure
Unease swallows the world of Telluria. contention rises in the Northern Lands, following the end of a great Dynasty. A foreign Empire extends its influence over the continent as ancient gods, long forgotten, seek to exert their influence through clandestine cults. Ancient Ruins of once great civilizations lie in the dirt; a warning sign from the past. Can the realms truly handle what is to come? What to Expect - A detailed world with a meaningful setting and emotional roleplay. - New character creation options tied to the Lore, as well as extra options to truly bring any character idea to life. - Do you want to play as Two Species? or have a character with Two subclasses? We have options for that. - Expanded rules for Domain Play, Mass Combat, and Sieges to allow for truly epic battles and epic sieges. A long term campaign which covers all aspects of play; from heavy combats, dungeon crawls, exploration, as well as social situations, political intrigue, mystery, and investigation. An Exploration into various philosophical themes, some psychological horror, as well as Occultism. An Exploration into Politics, Political Intrigue, and various ideologies and their impact. ------------------------ Games will be organized sessions done through Discord Voicechat; with opportunities for minor text rp and dialogue inbetween voiced game sessions. - Free Session 0 The Session 0 will include discussions on safety, character creation, lore and world info, and a free prologue session. - All text based RP is free
Game style
Dungeon Crawl
Hexcrawl / Exploration
Organized Play
Sandbox / Open World
Realm Building
Roleplay Heavy
Tactical / Crunchy
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
4.8
(5)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, World Builder
About me
Hello; I've been running games for almost a decade. I have experience running DnD 5e; and World of Darkness and actively run both systems. My current goals in terms of DMing is to create a living world which spans through multiple campaigns, time periods, and even systems. I like to run more Grimdark and Horror themed games; exploring themes such as Psychological and cosmic horror, poligical intrigue, as well as explorations into themes of ideologies, philosophies, and spirituality. I'm a spiritual person and my biggest inspiration for my games would be my personal life experiences and spirituality. I'm really big into Esotericism and Occult philosophy and incorporate a lot of that into my worldbuilding and setting.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
We will be creating our characters during Session 0. Players are expected to have a rough idea of what they want to play. I'm also open to working with players before Session 0 on character ideas. For stats we will be using a modified point buy; with a value of 37 points, a maximum of 17 and a minimum of 7. Players Start at Level 1 We will be using the 5.5e ruleset; but older 5e content which has not been updated is allowed. This includes Species, old Backgrounds, old feats, subclasses, etc. Most Unearthed Arcana is also allowed. Along with that; we also have a homebrew additions to character creation which allow for players to make characters of two species, two subclasses; start with extra feats, and a few other options to enhance customizability.
Themes of Politics, Realm Building, and Nobility will come up. Characters should have connections to politics or political situations. Aside from that; try to make the characters fairly mundane or average people. They can be a prodigy at a young age, a noble, a knight, someone of great achievement, etc. Just nothing super crazy, try to keep the character ideas simple. Complexity can be developed during play. Characters should start off good or neutral alignment leaning. I'm cool with characters turning evil later on, and with character conflict. Think of internal conflicts your character may be going through Their biggest fears, regrets, vices, etc. Think of character touchstones; people that keep them grounded to their morals and humanity. What is the character's worldview? What is their philosophical view?
What to expect
Preparing for the session
The Game will be primarily run on Discord, using the Avrae Bot. Along with that we will be using Roll20 for maps and tokens. The game will be a voiced game; with some play by post elements outside of the main sessions. A Microphone is required. We will be using google sheets for the Character Sheet. Make sure you have some proficiency in google sheets. The game will be run on a Discord Server, the link will be provided before Session 0.
What Tausty Z brings to the table
I like to run all aspects of play; from heavy and deadly combats, to Political Intrigue, Mysteries; and also more lighthearted things, slice of life, and satire. My games also emphasize a certain degree of resource management. Torches burn out in dungeons, travelling takes rations, etc. I enjoy utilizing scarcity to play into the themes. Expect some Social commentary as well.
Homebrew rules
Expanded backgrounds: Additional character creation options at level 1 (Dual Species, Extra Feats, Additional Bonuses, etc) Some Class Feature Tweaks: Minor Tweaks; We're using the old rules for Paladin Smites. Monks get extra Focus points, Sorcerers get extra sorcery points, etc. Lingering Injuries: Chance to gain Lingering Injuries upon going down to 0hp Unarmed Strikes and natural weapons have the light and finesse properties Health Potions are addictive Alternate XP system Few other minor tweaks and changes to enhance gameplay, provide more character options, and play into the themes of the setting.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Tausty Z creates a safe table
This setting and my games in general tend to get extremely dark and cover heavy themes and topics. For this reason I'll be going over the various types of content I plan to include in my games. We will also be using the Monte Cook RPG Consent checklist. During the game we have an open door policy; any player is free to take a break for their own safety or well being. We will also have intermissions throughout the game; and breaks to check in on players. Along with that I always do aftercare. After each of my games and in the time leading up to the next, I always take some time to talk with the players about how we all feel, expectations, constructive criticisms, etc.
Content warnings
Safety tools used