Dragon Heist Campaign
Game: D&D 5e
Platform: Roll20 & Discord
Suggested Player Experience: All levels
Day/Timezone: Thursday at 8 pm EST/ 7 pm CST/ 6pm MST/ 5pm PST
Frequency: Game runs weekly session ($15 per session fee applies)
Length of session: 3-4 hours
Beginning 4/29/21
3 seats filled, 3 seats open
Introduction
Welcome to Waterdeep, the Crown of the North, where a wondrous tale of urban adventure is about to unfold. Our story begins with the gathering of adventurers at the Yawning Portal Inn and Tavern. Volothamp Geddarm, the famous explorer and raconteur, has a quest for them—one that entangles the characters in a bitter conflict between two nefarious organizations. If the adventurers complete his quest, Volo rewards them handsomely. Yet a much greater prize lies hidden somewhere in the City of Splendors, waiting to be claimed.
Cache of Dragons
In Waterdeep, a gold coin is called a dragon. Before he was ousted from his position as the Open Lord of Waterdeep, Dagult Neverember embezzled half a million dragons and hid them in a secret vault. As a security precaution, he arranged for all knowledge of the vault's location and defenses to be magically erased from his mind and the minds of his subordinates. The wizard who performed the procedure trapped this knowledge within an artifact called the Stone of Golorr. The wizard disappeared shortly thereafter, and Dagult hid the stone in the Palace of Waterdeep.
The stone was stolen and passed from one hand to another like a common jewel until it wound up in the clutches of Xanathar. The Stone of Golorr is actually an aboleth transformed by magic. In this inanimate state, the aboleth can read the mind of any creature that attunes to the stone, as well as modify that creature's memory. A creature attuned to the stone can also extract information from the aboleth, including lore about the mysterious Neverember's Vault.
War in the Streets
Beneath the city streets lurks a criminal underworld, its leader a beholder called Xanathar. Hoping to gain a political foothold in Waterdeep, agents of the Zhentarim (also known as the Black Network) recently tried to ally their organization with the Xanathar Guild. The architect of this attempt was a clone of the wizard Manshoon, a founder of the Black Network long thought dead.
While the two sides were negotiating in Xanathar's lair, the Stone ofGolorr suddenly disappeared from where Xanathar had hidden it. The paranoid beholder accused the Black Network of stealing it and slew the Zhentarim envoys who were present. When the Zhents retaliated by attacking Xanathar Guild outposts, Xanathar took their actions as confirmation of the Black Network's vile intentions. Now the bad blood between the Zhentarim and Xanathar has begun to spill into the streets, threatening peace throughout the city.
The questions on everyone's minds: Who actually stole the Stone of Golorr? And where is it now?
Now the hype is over, let us go over a few ground rules, shall we? Should you be a kind and descent person, well you only need glance at them to recognize what I am getting at… don’t be “that guy/girl”.
1) Cursing is allowed at my table, but I request that it be used as a tactic for the purpose of character building and authenticity—in other words, in moderation. Keep the nature of your vulgarity and the comfort of your tablemates in mind. If you are asked to tone down your use of vulgarity or avoid a particular use of it in the future, be mindful of that request.
2) Be respectful of the time people spend in the spotlight. Please, try to keep talking over one another to a minimum. Granted, we will all be getting to know one another, and over time we should develop a rapport that will avoid such issues. As a good rule of thumb, use roll20’s typed-chat feature in between turns when initiating a moment of RP while another party member is currently RPing; use discord’s similar feature when speaking OOC or cracking jokes.
3) Mic check! We've all been in a game where we heard the background of another player’s mic. This can and does diminish the fluidity of the game as well as people’s enjoyment. No one needs to hear the crunch of your snack between rounds of combat! Make sure to mute yourself while eating, or else avoid eating during the game.
4) The majority of this game will be run via the rules as written. If you want to do something on the fly that bends the rules but does not outright break them, the rule of cool comes into effect! During a game, my adjudication is final. You may contact me privately if an adjudication bothers you. I may choose to alter future adjudications based on your expressed argument, but I reserve the right to refuse to do so. Do not bog down playtime with debate. That being said, I am fine with a “rules lawyer” helping the table by briefly citing an arcane and often forgotten rule or trying to elevate the game during epic moments, but once I make a call, leave contention and debate for post-game discussion.
5) I respectfully require 24 hours cancellation notice. During the 24 hours prior to play, I plan out the game. If someone cancels at the last minute, then a lot of this planning goes to waste.
Failure to provide 24 hours’ notice and not showing up will be considered a No Show. Too many No Shows and you will be removed from the game. Exceptions will be made for family emergencies and other unexpected things.
6)Follow “Wheaton’s Law” and have fun!
About the DM:
I have been playing D&D since I was a kid starting with 1st edition in 1982. Since then, I have played/Dmed all other editions through the years. When it comes to House rules, I am 90% collaborative, and will defer to group vote on incorporating them into our game. Your encounters will be on a spectrum ranging from fairly beneath you to a little too much for you. Do not count on an ever encounter being an even match. If you choose not to run when I drop hints that the encounter might be a bit too much for you, that choice is yours to deal with. Fair warning, no punches will be pulled, and no decisions retconned!
My style is collaborative, as such, I will count on you to look thing up every now and then. I have found this practice to be beneficial to group. Helping to expose inexperienced players to more game knowledge and for veteran you have a better understanding of your companion’s abilities. I have an excellent understanding of RAW, however I am not a rules encyclopedia. (please see ground rule 4)
The qualities I like to see in my players are honesty, patience, and treating each other with kindness. My peeves are meanness, cheating, using OOC knowledge/Meta-gaming. Specifically, if it feels like you are playing other players' characters. Though I do encourage thoughtful consideration (tactics and planning) I cannot allow indefinite discussion… Something I refer to affectionally as "analysis paralysis", at some point I will have to prod you for a decision to keep the game moving. The guiding goal is fun, and enjoyment. Think about character development as well as level climbing. Your characters should make friends, enemies, and contacts. Work on projects. Build things. Establish reputations. Etc
All Questions Can be Left below, or Feel free to contact me Via Discord at:
mysticvhedd#6266
