Adventures on Hot Springs Island

About the adventure

Whatever the hell a swash is, get ready to buckle it! This is the best sandbox adventure ever written: Hot Springs Island, winner of Best Adventure at the 2018 ENNIE Awards. Hot Springs Island is a hexcrawl with 25 hexes each containing three unique points of interest spread across a tropical island. Home to six unique factions, each with their own goals and enemies, the island is overrun with warring fire elementals and ogres, savage lizardfolk in thrall to a mysterious extraplanar entity, ruins of Elven cities destroyed in some ancient cataclysm, and the vestiges of an even older civilization of serpent-people. The adventure contains 8 dungeons, 300 unique items, and a veritable zoo of new monsters. If you're interested in a game of swashbuckling action and wilderness survival in an OSR style where survival is a matter of luck and careful planning, this is the game for you! Here's a review of the module: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp_sIAqKc1Q

Additional Details

How to prepare

A webcam and mic are necessary. You don't need to create a character before session zero. All rolling will be done in Roll20. The combat in this adventure is pretty challenging, so some understanding of the 5e rules is preferable.

What I provide

Everything will happen online via Discord, Roll20 and D&D Beyond. I'll give you access to all the official D&D 5e content on D&D Beyond. I also have a premium Hero Forge subscription, and I'm happy to make a customized token of your character.

Gameplay details

This is a high fantasy game of swashbuckling action. Expect a PG-13 level of violence. You should expect to talk in character, but I'm not a stickler about OOC talk. I like to reward, rather than punish, suboptimal, characterful choices. Combat will be fairly tactical, using a grid. The monsters are playing to win, but they're not necessarily smart. There will be some puzzles, but you won't encounter one every session. Some TTRPG experience is preferred, but I will adjust the difficultly of combat based on how experienced the group as a whole is. We'll all create characters together during session zero to make sure everyone's character fits with the setting.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Breaks
Lines and Veils
Session 0

How will character creation work

We'll make characters together during session zero. I have access to everything on D&D Beyond, so you'll have access to all official D&D 5e material, plus any homebrew you want (as long as I approve, of course).

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.