Spidersilk & Cyanide - An Underdark Adventure, Free Session 0
Adventure, Scheme, and Play Politics for keeps in an underground city of drow.
$30.00
/ Session
Details
4 players following this game
Weekly / Sunday - 11:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 2.75–3.25 hours
2 / 4 Seats Filled
Top Game Master
One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Meet your party members
2/4
About the adventure
The following description is the general premise of the campaign, but will be tweaked to player preferences during Session 0: Menzoberanzan has been a harsh drow matriarchy for thousands of years, with little social mobility for individuals or for houses because of the long lifespans involved. As of late, a mysterious divine call from Lolth has caused a shake-up in the aristocracy of the city. This means who gets to be a big name in the city has shifted, though the overall structure is largely unchanged. You, the party, are citizens of the city who for one reason or another hold next to no sway or stature. Up until the start of the campaign, you have run a business for a patron who was a vassal of a vassal of one of the high houses. No-one really pays you any mind other than when they want something, which is convenient when your mistress dies. Her death is reported, as is expected of you, but due to an oversight no-one steps in to manage you. This puts you in the rare position of not having anyone to directly answer to. You still have a connection to one of the city's big names, but if you make enough of a fuss that they come looking then they'll find out you've been running the show and will take that newfound independence away, or worse. The campaign is more or less about finding out how much you can better your situation within Menzoberranzan without getting caught. You might do this through social networking, accumulation of wealth, or finding some sort of personal leverage on those in power that will let you maintain your independence. The exact details of how this will play out is largely up to you! We'll have a Session 0 to discuss what sort of characters you want to play, and what role they can fill within the city as a whole.
Game style
Roleplay Heavy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(18)
5 years on StartPlaying
573 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Inclusive, Storytelling
About me
Howdy! My name is Nick and I've been rolling dice nearly as long as I could read, so I feel like I can say with confidence that Tabletop RPGs can be some of the most fun experiences to be had with your friends, or to make new ones! I've been running games professionally for about 2.5 years now, but I've also Hosted a podcast, Ran an annual charity drive that has raised over $25000 in its lifetime, and even appeared as a guest on Dragon Talk (Feb 18th 2020) so I can definitely keep up with the folks who have been doing this a bit longer. Outside of D&D, I would love to explore the space of other systems. I've run successful games of Pokemon Tabletop Adventure and Vampire the Masquerade, and dabbled with an assortment of Powered by the Apocalypse games before. If you want to try something new together, I'm more than happy to take a crack at it! If you have an idea, a question, or would like to be provided examples of my GMing style, please contact me through the site and I'll get back to you ASAP. I hope we can tell some memorable stories together!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
We will be doing character creation as part of Session 0, but generally speaking the vast majority of official Wizards of the Coast character options will be available to you. We can find a way to make basically any character work, though we may have to contrive a reason for that character to be in Menzoberranzan without political sway.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Make sure you have an account on Discord and Roll20 as well as a working microphone and a quiet place to play. Beyond that, everything will be handled during Session 0.
What NickTheDM brings to the table
My specialty as a Game Master is creating unique stories and situations that could only exist with the exact characters you all want to play. I put a heavy focus on the narrative, as I think that's the main reason to play a TTRPG rather than a war game, but combat is often still a core piece of that story. Expect fights to be somewhat less common than an average table, but they will always feel like they serve a purpose or provide necessary texture to the story as a whole. Beyond that, I'm happy to adapt! We'll have a discussion during Session 0 regarding what exactly you look for in a game and I'll do my best to balance everyone's expectations.
Homebrew rules
While I tend to run the game pretty close to the book, I consider that to be more of a jumping off point. I'm not afraid to make something new when there isn't something available that is exactly what we need. To that end, expect the basics to be pretty close to Rules As Written, but homebrewed items and monsters should be expected with relative frequency.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Headphones
Platforms used
Safety
How NickTheDM creates a safe table
I'm a big proponent of the open Session 0 discussion with regards to what topics should be talked around or just completely not included. Since, at time of writing, Session 0 has not yet occurred the Content Warnings below are a guess at what will likely come up given the setting. It is not an exhaustive list, and we also have the option to gloss over one or more of those topics if someone is uncomfortable. Ultimately, this is a game, nothing we're doing here is more important than the comfort and safety of the people playing it.
Content warnings
Safety tools used