Small World

The campaign takes place on a homebrew world called Runial. The civilizations that inhabit it are: Civils, the alliance of demi humans such as humans, elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, orcs, goblins, and any other manner of humanoid beings. Ferals, which are more animal than humanoid, anthropomorphic creatures made up of any animal species you can imagine. Pseudofauna, which are a mix of demi human and some animal trait. Examples of this include holstaur, winged humans, merpeople and so on. They're distrusted by both Civil and Feral societies though are free to dwell within either albeit with some difficulties. Otherworlders, mysterious beings with special powers that are resistant to Runian natives. They can be any Runian race, although none of them arrive with memories of how they came to be. Civilization for the most part on Runial can be compared to the 1800s. The most advanced parts of the world have access to basic amenities such as rudimentary plumbing and electricity. Weaponry has advanced up to single action revolvers and lever action rifles. Runial in recent times has been plagued by a mysterious weather phenomenon known as the Aetherwind, a warm gentle breeze that rises from the ground, bringing with it motes of multicolored orbs of mana that float gently towards the sky. Any living thing caught in the Aetherwind is quickly and horribly mutated, rarely surviving the process. Alongside the appearance of the Aetherwind came the arrival of beings known as Otherworlders, people with special abilities that boast high resistance to attacks from Runian natives, making them difficult to combat without extreme measures. The Aetherwind began at the most northern point of Runial and over time has crept slowly to the south, pushing the Civil races down towards Feral territories. Ferals, in an attempt to retain their lands, have declared a defensive war on Civils to prevent their encroachment and Civils, desperate to escape the Aetherwind, grab what land they can to survive. The Aetherwind can also appear in random pockets anywhere on Runial, making nowhere truly safe. You are an adventurer that has woken up in an alien looking laboratory with no memories of who you once were or what has been done to you. After a narrow escape, you're now looking for answers alongside others that have also escaped the facility. Note: The game has themes of violence and is somewhat dark in nature without becoming too edgy. I do not focus on overtly sexual themes. We are partially on the second act of the campaign and are looking for 2 additional players for a long term commitment. I prefer newer players and don't mind teaching them, but veterans are ok too. My campaign has some homebrew and mixed elements. I DO use generative AI in creation of character images and some tokens in Foundry. I do NOT use AI in any part of my worldbuilding, character creation, or story progression. The session will take place over Discord mostly through text and voice, but for some sequences such as combat Foundry will be used. If this info dump was enough to entice you, feel free to message me!

The Helix Initiative was introduced to the public as a revolutionary leap in environmental adaptation, biological medicine, and survival science. Officially, the organization claimed it was developing new ways for humanity to survive ecological collapse, disease, and resource shortages. Behind closed doors, however, Helix operated hidden research divisions dedicated to experimentation far beyond legal or ethical limits. Somewhere deep within those divisions, a scientist identified in surviving records only as Dr. W██d████ T████ developed a machine capable of shrinking living organisms to less than an inch tall. The technology was presented internally as a breakthrough in resource efficiency and medical research—but many of the subjects brought into testing were children between the ages of eight and sixteen. Most never returned. You are one of the survivors. After undergoing the procedure, you awaken inside an ordinary city park that has become an impossible wilderness at your scale. Blades of grass tower like trees. Puddles become lakes capable of drowning entire groups. Ants patrol the dirt like armored soldiers, while spiders transform sections of the park into web-choked death zones. Every inch of terrain matters. Every storm is catastrophic. Survival depends on learning how to weaponize the environment itself—crafting tools and defenses from thorns, sap, insect shells, broken plastic, roots, and scavenged debris left behind by previous miniature civilizations that clearly did not survive for long. As you explore deeper into the park, you begin discovering abandoned outposts, collapsed shelters, and fragmented Helix logs detailing increasingly unstable experiments. The records reference attempts to create “evolutions chosen suvivors” capable of evolving beyond normal biological limits. Again and again, one phrase appears alongside heavily censored personnel files: MARROW SYNDROME. The disease slowly destroys the body in stages—first decaying bone tissue, then muscle structure, and finally flooding the lungs with blood. Somewhere among the corrupted files are hints that Dr. W██d████ T████ never joined Helix out of loyalty. Some logs imply he infiltrated the organization to expose its corruption, free the surviving test subjects, and continue researching a cure for a terminally ill child connected to the syndrome. Whether those rumors are true remains uncertain. Helix officially denies the existence of both the disease and the scientist. Not every strange thing in the park comes from Helix laboratories. Survivors occasionally encounter a bizarre figure known only as Rock—a hyper-muscular talking bee obsessed with shouting “MUSCLE” at every possible opportunity. Most groups dismiss him as insane until they realize he understands far more about the park than he should. One moment he acts like a reckless coach forcing terrified children to become stronger, and the next he casually references erased facilities, failed experiments, or “previous attempts” that nobody else remembers. Near the edges of abandoned Helix sectors, Rock sometimes becomes unusually quiet, staring into empty space before muttering warnings that sound less like jokes and more like genuine fear. HE IS WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE...

We still have an opening. Every other Sunday starting on the 6-9pm Pacific time. We are just starting Eve of Ruin over Discord and Fantasy Grounds. We use 2014 5e rules with Xanathar's and Tasha's guides. I do add in a bit of homebrew to expand and balance the best I can. Our group is 35+ Adults. Welcoming and friendly. We enjoy the combat bits with a bit of problem solving aspects. We have a Ranger, Warlock, and Fighter right now. Trying to recruit a couple more. I've been DM'n for about 2 years now. I have been interested most of my life and play in another group as a player. I'm open to ideas and try and say 'yes' or 'We can try' rather then shutting down ideas as long as they are reasonable. I am more a rules lawyer then Role-playing but I'm trying to be better at the talking bits.