Enter Eden 18: Poiesis [A post-cyberpunk/neo-noir campaign filled with intrigue, conspiracies and a touch of the surreal!]

About the adventure

This is an 18+ Campaign set in the city of Eden 18, within the Homebrew world of Terra Nostalgia— a setting designed after a post-cyberpunk world with vapourwave characteristics. What is Eden 18? Eden 18 is a restless city-corpse, where neon lights blink in staggered, inconsistent patterns. A graveyard of dreams, where ideals were made manifest, then turned twisted. Where an ember of the humane spirit endures, in the wreckage of utopia. 12 districts, once deliberately designed to serve the interests of a corporate black ink margin, now desperately held together by revolutionaries turned criminal, every day turning more into the masters they overthrew. A city held together while a kingdom of conscience looms overhead, constantly watching, constantly waiting for the city to clean itself off, while still treating it as a dumping-ground. A dumping ground for undesirables, a dumping ground for subversives, a dumping ground made to grind out the vestiges of the defiant spirit. Yet this dumping ground is defined by the defiant spirit. There is decay and defeat plastered over this once luminous city, yet life here persists— most times resigned to their worn-down fates; sometimes though, sometimes life here thrashes against it all, incandescent and incarnadine— ugly, loud, messy, ungraceful, brutish, immense, and irresistibly perfect, as perfect as a mortal soul could be. Campaign Premise: District 4’s Patron, Enrique Delgado is dead. The Syndicate, the city’s criminal network, are in a state of panic. The circumstances of the death were most dubious, and the higher-ups, convinced the death was a result of a murder most foul, have started to mobilise their own people to investigate the case. The core players of this initiative are the Patron of District 3, Madam Hong; the late Delgado’s right hand man— Matthew Alvarez; and lastly, the Acting-Mayor of Eden 18, Desmond Weiss. All the while, strange happenings seem to be seeping in from the Digital Dreamscape, an alt-reality powered by tech learnt from psychic space aliens colloquially known as 'Daemons'. You are a select group of individuals, sent to ingratiate yourself with District 4’s movers and shakers, to serve as an inside source of information into the current workings of the District; while also investigating the impossible case. Themes: Post-Cyberpunk, Urban, Intrigue, Espionage, Factions, Surreal. Setting inspired by Disco Elysium's Revachol and various properties of cyberpunk and weird fiction. Soundtrack: City-Pop, Synthwave, Vapourwave, Jazz Fusion

Additional Details

How to prepare

The only requirements I ask from my players is to have a Discord account, a working Microphone, and a Roll20 account. Familiarity with the rules would make things easier for me, though I'm more than ready to walk newcomers through the rules, I've done it plenty of times and I don't mind doing it again. The Roll20 account is important since we will be using a fair amount of maps, for not just combat, but also hub regions and areas with large degrees of interactivity.

What I provide

As mentioned earlier, I will be directly inputting the players' character sheets onto Roll20, so they have an easy and direct access to their character sheets from within the Roll20 app. The game will also be played through a number of maps and scenes provided by me through Roll20 for better scene visualisation and interactivity. Players can provide me with a character image for their token, alternatively I can select one for them, if they so choose.

Gameplay details

This campaign takes place within a cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk homebrew setting. While I am aware that there are other systems that cater to such genres, I decided to stick with DnD 5e due to convenience and familiarity, both on my part as a DM and for any potential players. This does mean that many elements from traditional DnD are reflavoured to fit the setting, though all relevant changes will be communicated with the players. The games I run will often include a number of adult themes, including, but not limited to, descriptions of graphic violence, swearing, etc. There will be a free session 0 wherein any concerns or questions regarding the content of the games can be discussed and adjusted accordingly. Roll20 itself has a number of safety features integrated within the client, and I always encourage any of my players to make full use of them whenever they see fit. Furthermore, players are always free to contact me directly through discord during and out of sessions, for whatever questions or concerns they may have. Much of what serves as the primer for the campaign (character building, questions about the setting/world, Roll20 tools and UI, atmosphere and tone, and any other questions) will be covered and discussed in the free Session 0. Once everything is set and everyone's satisfied, we'll be ready to get started proper with Session 1.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Aftercare
Bleed
Breaks
Debriefing
Luxton Technique
Session 0
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Any character app works, though I personally use Aurorabuilder (and am more than willing to walk through anyone who's interested in using that app). Ultimately I just need the character sheets since I will be manually transferring them to the Roll20 campaign so that the players can have an easy and direct access to their character sheet from the Roll20 client itself. Should they be interested, players may also present character ideas that do not necessarily fit with what is provided by the official class/race options; which can be further developed between player and DM during the character building period. The details regarding character building will be discussed in the Session 0, and players can work on building their characters after the session. I usually give my players a week to finalize their characters, and if they have any questions or help with the process, they're free to reach out to me through discord.

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.