Atheron - D&D 5.5e (2024)
In Atheron, three kingdoms cling to a fragile peace. Beneath it all, mana scars threaten to tear reality apart. The continent endures. Will you?
$25.00
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Weekly / Tuesday - 11:00 PM UTC
Oct 13 / Session 2
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
Campaign Length / 25+ Sessions
4 / 5 Seats Filled
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Schedule
Meet your party members
4/5
About the adventure
Three kingdoms cling to a fragile peace while mana scars, tears in reality, spread across Atheron. In this dark fantasy campaign, you’ll explore a fractured continent, face difficult choices, and pursue a story shaped by your character’s past and your party’s decisions. Begin at level 3 in an open world with an overarching mystery. Choose which leads to follow and which causes deserve your loyalty. Your backstory becomes part of the setting, giving you personal reasons to explore and people or places worth caring about. There are no predetermined outcomes: your decisions influence how the story unfolds. Expect tactical, cinematic combat most sessions, with meaningful roleplay between encounters. Atheron is a harsh world of uncertain loyalties and morally complicated decisions. Victory takes work, choices carry consequences, and character death is possible, though rare. This campaign is for players who enjoy making difficult calls and discovering what their characters stand for. Explore through hand-drawn maps, dynamic lighting, and an original soundtrack composed for the setting. I provide session recaps and active quest tracking through a player-facing landing page in Foundry so you can stay connected to the adventure. Bring a character concept; we’ll work together to give them a place in Atheron.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Roleplay Heavy
Sandbox / Open World
Rules as Written (RaW)
Rule of Cool (RoC)
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
1 year on StartPlaying
2 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, World Builder, Beginner Friendly
Average response time: 1 hour
Response rate: 50%
About me
My name is Christian. I'm a Marine Corps veteran and the creator of Atheron, a 500+ page grimdark campaign setting on the Foundry VTT Marketplace. I've been GMing since 2020 and I built my original world from scratch -- every map, every adventure, every NPC. When you play at my table, you're playing in a world the DM wrote, not one I bought off a shelf. I run all my games on Foundry VTT with hand-drawn maps, dynamic lighting, and an original soundtrack composed specifically for the setting.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Character creation happens before session one. Session zero is dedicated to finalizing characters, establishing backstories, and introducing the world. Stats are determined by point buy with 30 points (slightly above standard to make characters feel competent in a harsh world). Starting level is 3. Characters are built directly in Foundry OR built in D&D beyond and imported. All official 5.5e content is allowed. Homebrew classes or races need approval beforehand. Come with a character concept and reach out over Discord beforehand so we can work your backstory into Atheron before session zero. Session zero is for finalizing mechanics, establishing party connections, and making sure everyone's on the same page before session one.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You'll need Discord for voice chat and a browser that can run Foundry VTT (Chrome or Duckduckgo works best). No downloads or purchases required on your end. Before session zero, you'll receive a link to the Foundry server and an invite to the campaign Discord. That's it. Show up with a character concept and be ready to play.
What Christian Fraser brings to the table
Full Foundry VTT experience with hand-drawn maps, dynamic lighting, fog of war, and an original soundtrack composed for the setting. Voices for every NPC. A player-facing landing page in Foundry with session recaps and active quest tracking. Combat is tactical and cinematic, not just "I hit it." Rule of cool applies when it makes sense but the rules exist for a reason. Expect combat most sessions with meaningful roleplay driving the story between fights.
Homebrew rules
Flanking gives a +1 to attack rolls.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Christian Fraser creates a safe table
Session zero covers everything before the dice hit the table. Content warnings for Atheron are discussed upfront. Beyond the standard content warnings, every player gets the chance to bring up anything specific they want kept off the table or handled as a fade-to-black moment. No justification needed. If something comes up mid-campaign that was not covered in session zero, I pause and check in. If a scene hits harder than expected, we talk about it. A quick check-in after intense moments costs nothing and keeps everyone comfortable enough to keep playing long-term.
Content warnings
Safety tools used