The Eldritch Hunt — Bloodborne-inspired 5e Horror

Creating your character

Characters are built together in session zero, before play begins — bring a concept, not a finished sheet. We're on 2014 fifth edition rules, starting at level 3. Stats by standard array or point buy, whichever you prefer. You'll have the full 2014 Player's Handbook plus every player option from Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt — the Jaeger hunter class, its races, subclasses, backgrounds and trick weapons. You don't need to own the book; I'll walk you through what's on the table. We build in Foundry, not D&D Beyond. The D&D Beyond version of Steinhardt's is the 2024 conversion, and we're staying on 2014 so everything slots together cleanly. No 2024 PHB options, please.

Preparing for the session

Discord — free account, and join the server I'll send you. This is where we talk during sessions and between them. The Forge — free account at forge-vtt.com. That's where our Foundry game lives; you'll play in your browser, so there's nothing to install. A working mic — a headset or anything that isn't your laptop's built-in mic, ideally. A webcam if you have one — not required, but cameras on makes the table warmer and the scary bits land harder.

What Ink & Iron brings to the table

Full Foundry setup. Custom maps with dynamic lighting, ambient music and soundscapes, tokens and handouts prepared for every scene. Trick weapons are automated — transform your weapon mid-fight with a click, no rules-lawyering mid-turn. Roleplay and combat in equal measure. I don't run a dungeon crawl with dialogue bolted on, or a talking game with occasional fights. Expect both, properly prepped. NPCs get voices and their own agendas, and combat is tactical and genuinely dangerous — positioning and timing matter, and the beasts fight to win. Rule of Cool, within reason. If you describe something brilliant, I'll find a way to let it work. What I won't do is let a clever ruling in session four break the game in session twenty.

Homebrew rules

Trick weapons. Your weapon has two forms and swaps between them mid-combat, each with different damage, reach and properties. Firearms. Flintlocks and blunderbusses, Madness. Insight has a price. Witnessing the truly wrong inflicts short-term, long-term or indefinite madness, and the worst of it doesn't wear off on a long rest. Eldritch moons. The moon changes the rules of the night. A scorching moon drives the city mad; a glacial one freezes it. You'll learn to read the sky before heading out. Losing limbs. Some monsters take pieces of you. Not a death sentence, but the city has surgeons, and they aren't cheap or kind.

How Ink & Iron creates a safe table

"Session zero. Before we play, we go through tone, content and expectations together, and build characters as a group. I send a lines and veils form beforehand so you can flag anything privately rather than say it out loud to strangers. Lines and veils. Lines are what we keep out of the game entirely. Veils are what can happen, but off-screen. You can add either at any point in the campaign, and you never have to explain why. Breaks. We take a proper break every session, and we'll pause any time someone needs it. In a horror game that isn't a luxury — stepping out of it for five minutes is how you stay able to enjoy it. Bleed. Horror sticks to you. When your hunter loses their grip, some of that can follow you out of the session, and that's normal rather than a failure. We name it when it happens and talk it through instead of pretending the game stops cleanly at the character sheet. Stars and wishes. We close each session with a star — a moment you loved — and a wish for something you'd like to see next. It takes two minutes and it's how the campaign bends toward what the table actually enjoys. Aftercare. We decompress together at the end, out of character. If something landed badly and you'd rather not raise it with the group, message me and I'll adjust quietly. This is a horror game and it's meant to unsettle — body horror, madness and loss of self are the setting. But there's a difference between frightening and harmful, and the above is how we stay on the right side of it."