This campaign is set in the Blacktooth Ridge – a corner of the Forgotten Realms.

The town of Botkinburg lies far from the settled lands of the south and the fabled kingdom of Outremere.  It sits upon a bend in the Hruesen River in the shadows of the slopes of the rugged hills of the Blacktooth Ridge, in a land known as the Barren Wood.  However, it was not always referred to in such dour tones.  In happier days this land was a wild, forested country named the Hruesen.  The forest was of an exceedingly large expanse filled with many beasts as well as the settlements of man, halfling, and elf.  The great ridge offered hunting aplenty and was called by men the Highlands and by the elves the Avishean Ridge.  There was peace in the country and little troubled the folk who lived there.  But the world’s ages turned, and so with them the fortunes of those in that wondrous wood.

               Long ago, beyond the memory of most in the Barren Wood, a power arose in the north and the whole part of the world fell under the rueful eye of a great evil, the Horned One.  He turned his armies loose on the lands of the Hruesen.  A great many orcs and goblins issued forth from the foul pits of Aufstrang and laid waste to the lands - driving the inhabitants south into the sea, enslaving them and scattering wide the free peoples that had been living there.  His evil emptied the forests and laid waste to the towns and cities.  For centuries the region lay under the Horned Ones evil shadow.  The ridge now stood forth from the wasteland as a black scar, as the orcs occupied it and made it a fortress of sorts. They tunneled beneath it and built squat towers upon it.  The ridge was renamed the Blacktooth Ridge, as it devoured all who entered it, and the lands about were renamed the Barren Wood. 

               After centuries the fortunes of those lands finally changed with the passing of the great evil in Aufstrang.  The Horned Ones armies scattered and the region around the Hruesen River was given a respite, although for many years it remained barren and empty.  In time, people began to move back into the region and found both the lands and the river fertile.  But so too arrived remnants of the horned Ones armies; for the Blacktooth Ridge lies in the shadow of Aufstrang and the fell pits of that place are a never-ending source of foul creatures.  The ridge itself, riddled with caves and ruins, is a wild land filled with evil creatures.  In it’s shadow along the river and in the woods, civilization has begun to take root.

               The town of Botkinburg is one of the settlements that has been built along the river.  Over the last 50 years it has grown into a community of several hundred and boasts a keep built by Lord Clement Botkin.  Recently something seems to have stirred up the creatures of the Ridge and they have experienced a series of goblin raids.  Messages have been sent out seeking adventurers willing to search the ridge and discover the source of these new raids and put an end to them.  You have arrived in Botkinburg in response to this summons and now find yourself at the town’s tavern:  The Bent Hook, known locally as Ortolf’s House of Sludge. 

Aryn - Love to have the warlock.

Mischief as a Rogue would be great.

I will get AD&D Beyond looked at tomorrow (Wednesday) - assuming it looks like something really useful.  I will also set up game threads then and let you know details about starting money, magic, or whatever.  If you want to start for now think about having twice normal starting money and maybe a very minor item - a potion of healing or such.  Anything beyond that I'll let you know tomorrow. 

Tonight I get to do a live game via Discord so no time. 

Oh - it will be Blacktooth Ridge.  Details all coming soon . . .

Yeah, the PHB point buy system. 

At this point I'm just waiting to hear back from Tann - if he has more players I want their input on things before we begin.  If anyone else out there is interested it would be great to add them in.  Right now I'm leaning towards the Blacktooth campaign since that is the easiest for me, but will wait for the final player tally before making that decision. 

Other things you need to know for player development?  Not at the moment.  A few things still depend on the final numbers.  I guess two things:

1.  Either campaign (Blacktooth or Forgotten Realms) will start off with some outdoor marching that will ultimately lead to some dungeon crawl.  In both cases ther will be opportunities to interact with the locals.  This can either be done quickly to get you the necessary information or be role-played into something bigger. 

2.  I am inclined to run this the way Tann always ran Trilogy.  This means you post what you want your characters to do and then I will take care of the dice rolls and describe the results.  If you wish to help me out by telling me the details (attacks with +5, doing 128+3 or this is the action and this is a bonus action) you can, but don't need to do so.

Tann - you had talked about possibly having others who might want to join.  Any luck with that? 

I'm not inclined to add magic items, but it will depend in part on exactly what sort of group we have to start with.

Nimu -

Welcome aboard.  A wizard would be great.  I don't think a dark elf would be a good choice in either possible campaign, so I'd stick to the high elf. 

It would be the point buy system (27 points) from the Players Handbook.

I'll read up on the Tree.

Blacktooth was just a single manual as far as I know, but I have expansions I have done to it.

I am probably open to a lot of things as long as we talk about it first.

D&D Beyond - I've never actually used it.  But at a glance it looks pretty reasonable.  Is there a reason I wouldn't allow character generation here?  It follows "the rules," right?

Talent Trees - I've never used them.  But It looks like they build off of feats and such.  They seem pretty reasonable.  I guess the only thing I'd say is to make sure you let me know exactly what your planning and what your source is.  I was just reading stuff on the Homebrewery. 

At this point I'm assuming point buy is the best way to go. 

I usually start at second level just because it is easier to avoid having someone get one-shotted out of existence.  Death can happen, but I'd prefer it is a goblin didn't do you in with one lucky shot.  But third level does give you a lot of more creative options.  So, ok, lets start at third.  Either game plan is workable this way.

Let me know if you prefer the Blacktooth Ridge or the Forgotten Realms options.

With a couple of games I have been playing in going on hiatus recently, I am looking at possibly starting up a 5e D&D campaign.  I'd love to be a player and not the Dm if anyone else is eager to run one, but figured I could give it a go as the guy in charge.  Things are a bopen right now for the general campaign, but I have some basic ideas.

1.  Fifth edition D&D.  Possibly arguable, but I will likely stick to this.

2.  Basic core rules plus some expanded materials like Xanathar's and such.  If you want a race or class outside of that it isn't likely, but may be doable.  It depends.  It can't hurt to ask.

3.  Starting at second or third level.

4.  The campaign will include both outdoor and dungeon type settings.  Generally, you gotta find the dungeon before you can go crawling around in it.  Right now two options seem the most likely:

     A.  The Blacktooth Ridge.  I have this campaign from a bit ago - a prepackaged one not originally put out by Wizards as a big package.  But about a year ago they published it broadly in a box set, so now perhaps a bunch of people are familiar with it.  If people don't know it using a pre-packaged base would make my life easiest.  I have modified it from the original somewhat and exanded it to take a party well past the original published manual.  If you don't know it starts with an exploration of the Blacktooth Ridge where a couple of young lads have gone missing.

     B.  A campaign set not far from Neverwinter in the Forgotten Realms.  Have you played the introductory Lost Mines of Phandelver module?  I was assuming people had and thus we wouldn't do that, but this campaign is essentially an extension of that campaign.  Ok, so you found the old mine and did what you were supposed to do.  Now what?  Explore rumors of troubles around Neverwinter Wood and open up some old roadways.  And then . . .

5.  # of characters is open.  Anywhere from 4-8, I suppose.

6.  I suspect a one-week turnaround is best.  I might be able to handle faster, but my experience is that getting an entire group to go faster than that is unlikely and hard to maintain.

On my end, I have never managed to get this site to let me post a picture.  That will need to change if I am going to make this work.

Ok, so those are the basics to start with.  I have one person already requesting a Rogue.  Post below if you are interested and let me know which of the two campaigns works best for you.

Well, I can post in the new games thread as well.

I was assuming 5e as I now know it best.  I could probably try third if everyone preferred - I'd have to look back at the rules.  Or way back to original AD&D. 

Yeah, I do have one 5e tabletop game I am in.  We used to meet meet twice a month at the local game store, but now with the pandemic we are actually meeting on Discord and roll20 and playing each week.

I love the idea of a live game session, and a couple of years ago that would have worked well.  But right now if I took on another live game I think my wife would kill me.  But a play by post game allows me some flexibility.  So I think I would need to stick to the RDI format.

Do you mean playing live on Discord?  Or something else?  I don't know either site.

This has not garnered as much response as I had hoped.  Another possibility - I could run a 5e D&D campaign.   I might post that under new games.  Anyone interested?  5e.  Probably starting at second or third level.  I have a few options for the campaign.

A ways out seems good - good to try and avoid being seen by anyone who can identify us.

Ok, I know this type of thing is not in my usual D&D wheelhouse, but I clearly have missed something. What exactly are you guys talking about?  And does Casino just mean he got us killed because they will know us?   Already figured that.

As for a place to go, I have no idea what Fixer would know.  If he does know something he'd suggest it.  He's not really the bar type, so probably not that - from his knowledge base anyway.

Fixer sat in the vehicle and thought about the pocketknife in his pocket.  He glanced over at Bloodbank.  He had no doubt where the Rya had gotten the knife. He understood the move, but it had been stupid on Bloodbank's part.  The woman might have done something dumb.  And that could have brought them all down.  And it would have been Bloodbank's fault.  He'd have to talk to him later, but it wasn't worth a dust up in front of everyone.  The motives were good at any rate. Probably more pure than for most of them.

He looked out the window at Rya's body lying on the concrete.  Stupid.  Everything about this thing was dumb.  He wanted to blame the kid.  Really it was the kids fault.  But the kid was ten.  What could you really blame on a ten year old kid?  Fairly blame on them.  He was just a scared kid.  But the kid's stupid run had just killed his mother.  And a lot of other people.  And Rya shouldn't have been here.  Not out of the car anyway.  She knew this was the likely result.  Fixer didn't feel guilty.  They'd had a job and there was no other reasonable choice.  He'd have made it if there had been.  But the result would just have been a lot more of them living in tents at the back ends of alleys or, more likely, not living in bloody heaps at the dark end of some dirty alley.  And now the kid was back where he started from, his Mom was dead, and a bunch of runners were dead of injured.  And that didn't even begin to count Vegas.  What category was he in?  No, the kid might only be 10, but his stupid run had put a lof of ugly crap in motion.  Just so he could flee a penthouse.  Stupid rich kid. 

Still, Fixer couldn't help but hope he found some peace and happiness.  "Poor little rich kid" was a cliche, but seemed to have some truth to it.  But there wasn't anything Fixer could do for him.  He glanced out the window at the body of the once and no-more mother.  He couldn't help her either.  He couldn't before and he sure-as-hell couldn't now.  Sometimes the world just sucked. 

Trying not to slide into gloom he looked around at the rest of the team.  They had been a good team.  "Ok guys, now we hope we get paid."   And here he paused and looked at Casino.  "And I think we have another job ahead of us.  Lets get away from here and talk."

The end of the trail Jace had set everyone's feet upon had not yet been reached.  How many more bodies would yet litter that pathway?

Sadly, with all of the real life things going on, a couple of the games I have been in for a long time are taking a break.  This means I am finding myself short of characters and campaigns.  Are there any games out there currently looking for an active player?  My preference is D&D style games, but I have been active in just about anything you can imagine. 

Bummer.  This is sad news. 

If life returns to normal at some point and the Destiny can fly again, let me know.

Just to be clear - Rya was only coming to the drop off, she was NOT be handed over, right?

Assuming this is true, Fixer would tell her to stay in the vehicle.  He would grab her arm if she had a weapon.  He doesn't want her out there to cause trouble. 

If she is supposed to go with to the meeting - in other words all the way to the drop off and meet the other guys, then he wouldn't stop her.  He would just warn the others of a weapon if he sees one.

Fixer watched Rya's arm not move and not move and not move and not move.  It was odd.  The only reason he could see for it was if she was holding something.  What could it be?  He did not want to start anything.  But he really didn't want her to start anything. 

He tried to get a look at her hand.  He tried to get a sense of what she might have.  Could he see? 

Awesome name and aweseome event!  Congrats!

Post up, but since everything is really going on elsewhere there isn't much for Fixer to do. 

I will do a roll to see if he notices anything on R20.  This is about if Rya or Jace are up to something.

Fixer disliked every moment of this event.  He was used to stress and even enjoyed stress a bit.  Sometimes it made you feel alive.  Right now it just made him feel very, very close to dead.  And the truly dmnable thing was, there was almost nothing he could do about it.  His life, Jace's future, Vagas' fate - right now all of it was in the hands of those out there doing the talking.  He just didn't want anything stupid to happen.

But since he couldn't change what happened out there - he ignored it.  He watched Jace and Rya.  That was his self-appointed task for the moment.  If she moved, he would stop her. They needed to stay calm.  He kept all of his senses and sensors trained on the pair of them.  Let the quarry not cause the hunters problems now.

I will try to get posts up on Wednesday. 

Fixer disliked every minute of the handoff.  At every moment it felt like they were being set up.  It was dangerous and there was really nothing he could do to make it less so. He disliked seeing the kid so upset.  But he'd also grown tired of the kids unwarranted whining leading to people dying.  Maybe himself.  The kid was selfish.  Or hiding something.  Or both.  And Rya was suddenly impressed by their professionalism?  It seemed odd.  Nothing in what she had done so far made that reaction likely.  Other than maybe just trying to calm the poor kid.  Poor kid?  No, if there was one thing this kid was, it wasn't poor.  Rich rather.  And running.  It still didn't make sense to him.

Fixer knew there wasn't much he could do.  He'd have to rely on the others to carry out the drop.  Well, he'd keep his eyes open.  First, as they approached the drop he scanned everywhere he could looking for electrical surveliance or threats.  Was there any as-yet unseen threat?   After that he kept his eyes locked on Rya and Jace.  He didn't think they had weapons on them.  But they'd run far enough already it seemed an almost certainty that they'd make a break for it again.  And then what would happen?  Or did they have some other plan?  To try and take over the vehicle when part of the team left?  He couldn't see it happening, but he was going to make darn sure it didn't happen.  So when his scan for security was done he ignored the events outside and focused on those inside the vehicle.  Jace and Rya.  He  focused his audio equipment on them so that he'd hear them breath.  If they were up to something, he wanted to know what.

Good luck with everything Chessic.  Losing a job stinks.

Alex is also interested in looking up anything we know about the theft of the platinum.  In particular he wants to know who it was stolen from and what sort of proof there was that it ever actually disappeared.  Who lost out?  Was there proof anyone had actually lost?  Insurance payments?