Corruption's Core | Beginner Friendly
A malignant will sends a mutating curse through the land. Those opposing it must guard themselves lest they become the monsters they seek to destroy.
$30.00
/ Session
Details
Weekly / Monday - 12:30 AM UTC
Oct 12 / Session 0
Session Duration / 3 hours
Campaign Length / 25–30 Sessions
3 / 5 Seats Filled
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One of StartPlaying's top-rated GMs, a player favorite and highly recommended.
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Schedule
Meet your party members
3/5
About the adventure
"We'll get your cousin back," you say with a hand on your companion's shoulder. "He can't be far away." Your companion nods, but there's disbelief in their eyes. "Whatever's down there, don't let me become one of these," they say in a soft voice. What were once farmhands lay dead in front of a gaping crack in the earth that cuts across a field of grain. The curse has left them deformed. Bloated. Bestial. With a deep intake of fresh air - perhaps your last - you follow your companion down into the earth. As you leave the sun and ruined farm behind, you draw upon arcane power. Instantly, light glows in your hand, showing the way ahead. The descent is steep. The tunnel opens into a cave small enough for your magic to illuminate. In the middle stands their missing cousin. He's alive! But something's wrong. Purple-black crystals protrude out of his hunched back. Your companion screams. Their sword clatters on the ground as they clutch their head. "Come," their deformed cousin orders. "Bow before me." Your companion, still screaming, crawls forward. "I think not," you say. Your hands flash from one complex shape to the next. Words of power spill from your lips. A white-hot ball of arcane fire grows between your hands. "I don't know what you are," you shout. "But you're going to burn!" — In CORRUPTION'S CORE you play an adventurer facing a mutating curse ravaging the land. What was once beautiful is now deformed into abominations of mindless savagery. This task is also personal for you, as people you love have been blighted by the scourge. But this curse is no accidental thing. At its core is an other-worldly eldritch will with dark designs, deadly enforcers and the power to control them. CORRUPTION'S CORE is an epic adventure with epic challenges. It involves classic D&D dungeoneering combined with dynamic role-playing opportunities set in a rich fantasy world. This adventure uses a special "Corruption Counter" to determine the increasing effects of the curse on the characters that try to destroy it. Join the adventure if you are interested in: 🧝♀️Daring adventure 🧙♀️Engaging role playing 💀Fighting eldritch monsters 🔥Delving dangerous dungeons 🗡️Finding powerful magic items 🌎Exploring a rich fantasy world This is a beginner friendly campaign.
Game style
Combat Heavy
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(41)
2 years on StartPlaying
439 games hosted
Highly rated for: Storytelling, Inclusive, Creativity
About me
Hello! My name is Vahid. I have been playing D&D and other TTRPGs for 40+ years. And for most of those thousands of hours I have been the DM. What I have learned is that role-playing games are an amazing way to connect with friends, create exciting unexplored worlds, and unleash pure creativity. Fun is the first consideration in these games. The sessions we will have together will be a balance of exciting, fast paced action and engaging, unpredictable plots, and interactive role playing. The adventures are dangerous. No plot armour here. The decisions you and your fellow players make truly count, and truly change the course of the story. Together, we will encounter monsters you have never seen before. You will find long lost treasures and visit places no one has laid eyes on for centuries. And at the heart of adventures are the characters that YOU make - the heroes, or perhaps antiheroes, of our adventure. If you like making fascinating characters, you're in the right place; if you love building wild and wonderful worlds, you're in the right place; if you enjoy scintillating role playing experience, you're still in the right place; if you love combat and strategy, start warming up your dice; if you love exploring dungeons, so do I; and if you love going up levels and collecting loot… yep! You're in the right place! When not doing Dungeons and Dragons, professionally I am from the television and media world. I compose music for media, especially animation, but also for advertising, magazine shows, sports, etc. I've also had experience as a voice actor, animation director, and am the producer of a D&D content company called Dice Legenz. In my personal life I am a husband and father. I live in New Zealand, but was born in Bloomington, Indiana in the United States of America. I'm a world citizen who works with people all over the planet. All that leads to one point: I hope you will join our games too. Pull up a chair and get ready to roll some dice!
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Characters will start at level 9. We will discuss character creation in our free Session Zero. Feel free to bring character ideas to the session but the characters will be locked in during the Session Zero. During that session we will talk about character backstories, connections, and the setting. Players will then make/finalise their level 9 characters. Most official D&D character options fit well into this campaign. We can discuss anything outside of that. Standard array or point buy stats. Averaged hit points. Whatever mundane equipment you want. We will discuss magic items. You can use the character creator tools within the Roll20 game if you want. I have access to the full 2024 and 2014 Players Handbook options as well as other official D&D books.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
You will need a working microphone, internet connection, account on Roll20 (it is free), and to join my Discord server (also free). Cameras are optional. I use a camera. You can choose.
What Vahid Qualls brings to the table
VTT, professional maps, immersive music, professional voicing. We use the Rules as Written most of the time, but aren't afraid to bend them to make room for the Rule of Cool.
Homebrew rules
Initiative scores instead of rolling initiative. This gets us into combat faster. See pg. 42 of the Dungeon Masters Guide for details. Critical Saving Throws. A nat 20 on a saving throw roll means no effect, even if a save would normally mean 1/2 damage. A nat 1 on a saving throw means double damage. If a character with the Evasion trait (e.g. rogues and rangers) rolls a nat 1 they take full damage instead of half damage.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Vahid Qualls creates a safe table
You will be sent a safety document which includes my lines and veils and allows you to tell me yours. We cover the safety tools in Session 0 before we go into characters and setting.
Content warnings
Safety tools used