1. What game system are you running (D&D, Call of Cthulu, Palladium, GURPS, etc.), and if applicable what edition (Original, Classic, Revised, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 10th, etc.)?
5e
2. What 'type' or variant of game will it be (i.e. "Shadow Chasers" or "Agents of Psi" for d20 Modern)? What is the setting for the game (eg. historic period, published or homebrewed campaign setting, alternate reality, modern world, etc.)?
Mostly combat, with downtime mechanics to cover a year of in-game time between each annual assault on the city. That said, I hope this can also be a game for people who like narrative, and you can make good use of downtime to advance a lifetime long story for your character.
The setting is the city of Coldwater:
The Shield of the North, Coldwater was the largest city of the northern coast of Solus. Each winter, when the undead crossed the Straits of Ice, Coldwater took the brunt of their attack.
The gentry of Coldwater were descended from the noble families of Blackreach rather than the Solar Empire, and used the title of Duke rather than Prince. The family name of the Dukes was Ci Gît.
Coldwater was a cold, austere city. The population was largely human and goliaths, with a significant minority of icy water genasi. Like Domari, it was a major center of worship of the The Maiden.
Please don't make too many assumptions about the planes and the gods and other things being standard to Faerun; it's a kitchen-sink setting, but a personal one.
3. How many Players are you looking for? Will you be taking alternates, and if so, how many?
3-5. It might be a good idea to have back-up characters you are advancing in the background.
4. What's the gaming medium (OOTS, chat, e-mail etc.)?
Forum PBP. Once we have a final group, I will make a Discord as well, with a dice roller and for real-time communication / posting resources. My experience is that having that channel is very necessary for a game to 'stick' long-term.
We will use DNDBeyond for sheets. There is a DNDBeyond Campaign here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/campaigns/...17991429023919
Once you join that campaign you will have access to all the books I have (which is pretty much all of them). I have to toggle on content sharing and can't do it until someone joins, which is annoying, but I will do it promptly.
5. What is the characters' starting status (i.e. experience level)?
1st level. You are a normal citizen who has just reached a level of proficiency to be treated differently than the generic militia members.
6. How much gold or other starting funds will the characters begin with?
1st level wealth.
7. Are there any particular character classes, professions, orders, etc. that you want... or do not want? What are your rules on 'prestige' and/or homebrewed classes?
Any classes/archetypes from published books. If you want to play a cleric or warlock we can talk about setting details. The most common gods of Solus are the
Celestial Court, although Coldwater is a major center for worship of the
Maiden.
8. What races, subraces, species, etc. are allowed for your game? Will you allow homebrewed races or species? 'Prestige' races or species?
Most races exist in this 'kitchen sink' setting, but here in Western Solus the most common race is humans, with goliaths, elves/half-elves, genasi and halflings all a sizable minority. Water genasi with icy traits are especially common in Coldwater, as are half-elves with shadarkai traits. The part of the population immigrated from Blackreach are of mixed human and shadarkai heritage and that balance can equate to human, half-elven or full shadarkai as a PC race.
Orcs and goblins and some other races have a unique history in this setting; they aren't off-limits, but we should talk.
9. By what method should Players generate their attributes/ability scores and Hit Points?
27 Point Buy. HP take your average rather than rolling (with max at 1st as normal).
10. Does your game use alignment? What are your restrictions, if so?
Your character's overall alignment is not of major importance, so much as your ability to work together to defend the city and the continent from the hordes of undead. There are good necromancers in this setting; the city is ruled by them, on the DL.
Don't use an evil alignment as an excuse to be vile.
11. Do you allow multi-classing, or have any particular rules in regards to it?
Allowed.
12. Will you be doing all of the die rolling during the course of the game? Will die rolls be altered, or left to the honor system? If players can make die rolls, which ones do they make, how should they make the rolls, and how should they report them?
You can roll on here, on DNDBeyond, on your desk--I don't care. If you are the type of person who would cheat at PBP D&D please don't join. I decline to play dice cop.
There will be a dice roller in the Discord.
13. Are there any homebrewed or optional/variant rules that your Players should know about? If so, list and explain them, or provide relevant links to learn about these new rules.
There will be a homebrew downtime mechanic to cover the year between each assault.
14. Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
Although this will be a combat-centered campaign, I am hopeful your character will have an interesting life the 11 months of the year you aren't fighting the undead. Remember you are starting as a level one character and have potentially 10 years of development ahead of you, so starting as someone who has 'seen it all' isn't advised. You should be a citizen of Coldwater, or have a good reason to moving to a frozen armpit that gets annually assaulted by the dead.
15. Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
As discussed above, primarily combat, with as much or as little narrative connecting each year to the next as you like. There will be some opportunities to solve problems in other ways during the seige, but not many; the undead are not usually open to negotiation. My goal is always to give PCs meaningful choices that drive the course of the game, but there are some well-defined rails in this scenario -- if you decide to leave Coldwater and explore distant Nom, you are deciding to leave the game.
16. Are your Players restricted to particular rulebooks and supplements, or will you be allowing access to non-standard material? What sources can Players use for their characters?
Anything from published books I have on DNDBeyond, which is most of them.
The Shield of the North: 5E campaign, combat
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