D&D Starter Set: Heroes of the Borderlands! Newbie/LGBT Friendly
The roads are unsafe, the frontier dangerous! The Keep can’t spare the soldiers to go confront the forces responsible. Perhaps you’re up for the task!
$40.00
/ Session
Details
2 players following this game
Weekly / Monday - 8:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3–3.5 hours
2 / 5 Seats Filled
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Meet your party members
2/5
About the adventure
I will not use generative AI at any point during this campaign, and I kindly ask that you do the same. If you have always wanted to play D&D, or you want to learn the new edition, or just want to hop into a short campaign, come play with us! We are going to run the starter set adventure “Heroes of the Borderlands,” which is designed to be accessible to new players. I am expecting this campaign to run for approximately 1-2 months of weekly games. The exact length depends on the places you choose to go, the order in which you do them, and the choices you make! (In the unlikely event that the adventure does not conclude within 2 months, we will take a hiatus in mid-November for the holidays, and resume the game in the New Year until this adventure is complete.) I also love to introduce the game to new people! So if you have always felt intimidated by D&D, I love demystifying the game and making it easy to get on board and start playing! (No pun intended) I love to run games that focus on immersive storytelling, with music and maps and, whenever possible, character voices! And I spend a lot of time thinking about the narrative structure of a D&D session, and of a D&D campaign overall. In that way, my games have a lot in common with Critical Role. If you're a Critical Role fan, you are probably going to enjoy my games! This is a sandbox adventure that contains a number of small dungeon crawls, so expect this adventure to be tense - positioning will matter, long rests won't be easy to find, and monsters won't hold back! If you are clever and daring enough to survive this adventure, you will be legends! We are going to level up by tracking experience points, but that doesn't mean you just have to kill every monster you cross paths with. You will get an equal amount of XP if you can successfully negotiate with a monster or a faction!
Game style
Dungeon Crawl
Hexcrawl / Exploration
Roleplay Heavy
Rules as Written (RaW)
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5 years on StartPlaying
67 games hosted
Highly rated for: Inclusive, Storytelling, Creativity
Average response time: 6 hours
Response rate: 100%
About me
I’m Mike Christensen, and I want to run your favorite game of D&D! I’ve been playing since 2007 and DMing for almost 20 years. I've run published campaigns, completely homebrew campaigns built around the player characters, games based on movies or TV shows, one-shots, and everything in between! I want to create the game you want to play in! Do you want realism where life is cheap and death is behind every door? I've got you! Want a heroic fantasy game where you're the heroes in a story tailored to your backstories? I love those stories! Want to play through a specific published adventure? I want to do that, too, let's do that together! I especially love introducing games to new players, so if you are new to the hobby I would love to be your guide! I also have a D&D YouTube channel called “SupergeekMike” full of lessons for DMs and players, so if you want to know more about me, that's a great place to learn what I'm like :)
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Our first session will be a Session Zero, where we will create our characters all together. We will use material from D&D 5.5, so if you have 5.0 material you want to convert to 5.5, please let me know and we can figure out how to make it work. (No Silvery Barbs, please and thank you!)
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Please create free D&D Beyond and Discord accounts, if you do not have either. Before session zero, please fill out the Campaign Consent Form (I will send it to you when you sign up), so you can let me know about any material or subject matter that is off-limits or you would prefer remain "off-camera". Please also have headphones for the game, so we do not get any sound bleed from your microphone. If you're able to also use a webcam to join the game, that would be wonderful, but I understand that is not always possible.
What Mike Christensen (SupergeekMike) brings to the table
I will share a link to a Discord server for this campaign. Through the Discord, I will also provide links for the D&D Beyond campaign page, which we will use to create our characters and run the adventure. I will also send a Consent Form checklist prior to the campaign. During the game, I will share a link for music, which I will control during the game to set the mood. You will be able to adjust the volume on your end, to your own specifications. We will do our video calls through Discord, but we will use D&D Beyond for our digital maps and tokens.
Homebrew rules
Right now, I don't believe I use any house rules for 5.5. (If I get something wrong, it's just because I still have the 2014 rules rattling around in my brain lol - please feel free to correct me!)
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Webcam
Platforms used
Safety
How Mike Christensen (SupergeekMike) creates a safe table
Our first session will be a Session Zero, to create your characters together, and to go over our Safety Tools. Before Session Zero, I will send a link to the Consent Checklist, so you can anonymously mark your Lines and Veils. I will collect these answers, and share the revised Lines and Veils for the group during Session Zero. During the session, if we start to get near a subject that is potentially upsetting, anyone can Pause For a Minute - we'll take a break, speak out of character, and discuss the matter as grown-ups. After the discussion, we will resume the game, and make any adjustments needed so the scenario is no longer an issue. (You might know this approach as the Luxton Technique.) My goal is to make sure everyone feels comfortable enough to express themselves during the game. However, if you would prefer to keep your concerns anonymous, you will also be able to message me privately through the Discord server. After every session, I will send each player a message asking for their Stars and Wishes - Stars are their highlights from the session, and Wishes are what they would like to see from future games.
Content warnings
Safety tools used