The Liberation of Gundgathol - An Epic 5e Campaign to Retake the Ancient Dwarven Halls - Beginners Welcome

About the adventure

“It depends on many chances. But going straight, without mishap or losing our way, we shall take three or four marches, I expect. It cannot be less than forty miles from West-door to East-gate in a direct line, and the road may wind much.” - Gandalf (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Omnibus, Houghton Mifflin, 2001). Dwarrowdelf, Moria, Khazad-dûm is, to my mind, the birthplace of Dungeons and Dragons. As a pre-teen, even before my discovery of the game, I read that chapter, "A Journey in the Dark" over and over, breathlessly imagining slowly working through the labyrinthine and decaying corridors of that vast underground fastness. And in this campaign you will experience what Tolkien hinted. Gundgathol lies in ruin. Over 250 years ago, an evil host rose from the underdark and pushed the dwarves out of their ancestral mountains. Since that time, orcs and worse have defiled their sacred hall. In recent days the high dwarven priests cast their runestones and read the portents. The finest of the dwarven youth have been called to the king's granite throne in exile. The time has come to retake Gundgathol! Are you brave (or foolish) enough to enter Dwarrowdeep? This game will have a more older edition hex crawl, and dungeon crawl feel to it, but will largely use D&D 5e rules. There will be ample opportunities for role-playing, and there are many NPCs at the surface and below, but it is an exploration and survival themed game as your characters explore the depths of Gundgathol and strive to retake it.

Additional Details

How to prepare

I will probably have a webcam on myself so that I can be more emotive. That is fully optional on your end. I would prefer a headset and microphone on your end to help avoid echoes and background noise. Character creation will happen in advance on Discord in a free "session 0" to polish them up . We will be using Roll20 for maps and rolls, and Discord for voice. I have a document that will explain most of the tweaks to the rules for the campaign that you will get in advance. It does not need to be memorized.

What I provide

I will have maps, tokens, and the like within Roll20. If you have a favorite token to represent your character we can use it. I prefer top down viewed tokens, not circular portraits.

Gameplay details

Combat may not be frequent, but the opponents will not pull punches and will use their abilities consistent with their experience and intelligence; which in some cases means they may be quite deadly. While not Middle-Earth, those familiar with it should find this familiar. The ability to raise the dead will be limited, so combat should be approached with caution. Players can bring a new character to the game if they lose theirs. To maintain the feeling of the setting some classes and races in 5e and expansions may not exist in the campaign.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Session 0
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Characters will be starting at level one. Mountain Dwarf characters are encouraged to fit within the theme of the campaign; but Bilbo found a way to join a company of dwarves. Character creation will be discussed via messages and rolled on a Discord server. I will consider a standard array of some sort, but I prefer to stay away from min maxed / template characters. Rolled characters must meet a fairly high standard to be "keepers"; but the result may not be fully optimized. Frankly, a wizard with an 18 strength who spends as much time smashing heads as casting spells can be a great deal of fun.

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.