Recruitment: DnD 5.5 one-shot. Newbie friendly

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OpenDungeons & Dragons 5thPublic3 / weekGreyWord
The tavern fire is calling, but your pockets are completely empty. Your last adventure was a disaster; you managed to escape with your lives, but your loot was non-existent, leaving you with nothing to show for your scars. As you trudge back, a shadow falls over the path. A raven watches from the branches, its deliberate, man-like gestures practically begging you to follow.

Driven by the desperation of a failed contract, you follow the corvid into a decaying, long-abandoned manor. The bird takes flight the moment you enter, leaving you alone with a bizarre tome. Encased in raw sheets of black oak heavily pitted by a pecking beak, its thirty-three fragile pages bear a frantic, trembling script. Yet, tucked loosely within this chaotic record is something that makes your pulses race: a carefully preserved, hidden map. The raven knew you were desperate—is this a gift, or a trap?
[ +- ] Map


Sep 3, 2026 6:28 pm
Game: DnD, 5.5 (PHB 2024 only, no other source books, sorry). We play RAW mostly


Hook: Your last adventure was a bust. You survived, but your pockets are completely empty and your gear is trashed. On the road back, an unnervingly smart raven lures your desperate party into a ruined home. The bird vanishes, leaving behind a weathered, titleless tome bound in scratched black oak.
The Twist: Inside its moisture-stained, hand-written pages is a hidden map that clearly doesn't belong there.


Theme and Adult Content
No Sexual Content. No Gore or Extreme Violence: The horror is psychological and atmospheric (mists, ravens, derelict houses) rather than grotesque or bloody

Expect: Gothic Horror & Ghostly Elements.

Game Duration and Post Frequency.
Don't apply if you can't do 3 posts per week. And I can do as much as one per day. Will decide on exact posting rate in the game.
This one took me 4-5 hours to run at the table. I guess if we can post 3 times a week could do in less than a year here at PbP.

Player Experience Requirements. None. Explicitly friendly to people new to PbP or gamersplane. I can help you how to use site to your satisfaction.

Welcome Marginalized Groups

How to Apply
By September, 10th post here a quote from a Gothic Horror book or movie. Real or imagined :)
Last edited September 10, 2026 7:51 pm
Sep 3, 2026 7:15 pm
Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make!

Qoute from Dracula.
Sep 3, 2026 7:48 pm
I am the Ancient, I am the Land. From Curse of Strahd

I'm in another one of your games, but if you need a character to fill the party. Gothic DnD games are my favorite.
Sep 3, 2026 9:56 pm
Hell yeah, sign me up! For my quote, I'll go with my favourite part of 'The Raven' by Poe;

"Here, I opened wide the door.
Darkness there, and nothing more."

Always gives me chills!
Last edited September 3, 2026 10:01 pm
Sep 3, 2026 9:57 pm
"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not became a monster…
when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you…"

-Friedrich Nietzsche
(got this quote from Baldur's Gate)

I could like to join this one-shot game, and i post frequently!
Last edited September 3, 2026 9:58 pm
Sep 3, 2026 10:55 pm
Someone played some Baldur's Gate.
Sep 3, 2026 11:45 pm
badbaron says:
Someone played some Baldur's Gate.
Nah, just researching from internet and found this quote🤷
Sep 4, 2026 5:33 am
Game will not start before September 10, but I've sent invitations to @Thorstmixx @Olof already to give them time to learn some of the site's features (for example how to accept an invitation :-) ) before we start game. Waiting for more interested players till Sep-10.
Sep 4, 2026 8:35 am
GreyWord says:
Game will not start before September 10, but I've sent invitations to @Thorstmixx @Olof already to give them time to learn some of the site's features (for example how to accept an invitation :-) ) before we start game. Waiting for more interested players till Sep-10.
Understandable👍
Sep 4, 2026 2:13 pm
I've never played a game here but this sounds like it would be a great one to start with.

"A skin was nothing. Pigs had skins. Snakes had skins. They were knitted of dead cells, shed and grown and shed again. But a name? That was a spell which summoned memories." - The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker
Last edited September 6, 2026 10:58 am
Sep 4, 2026 2:44 pm
I have not played D&D actively since the 1980s and have no material except a 3.5 PHB. If the core characters are still the same, I can make one. I love your hook.

"Oh, my creator, why did you not make me of steel and stone? Why did you allow me to feel? I would rather be the corpse I was, than the man I am." from Frankenstein's monster, who has the best lines in the short-lived series, Penny Dreadful.
Last edited September 4, 2026 2:45 pm
Sep 4, 2026 3:53 pm
Member Since April 9, 2022? You waited 4 years for this game? enticing.
You know what, change of plans. I keep recruiting open till sep-10 as promised and will run game for two groups in parallel if there will be enough interest.

@PbPgameOn I hope you don't mind but I will have you wait for the second group, only because you are in my other game already.
@MacConnell @MrSaxon @solose invites have been sent
Sep 4, 2026 3:57 pm
@MacConnell there are free rules version of PHB2024 and dndbeyond even allow you to create character based of free rules. They are limiting, but good enough to play a one-shot or two before you feel like wanting something more and before you realize your free rules based PC is sligly less powerful than other.
Sep 23, 2026 1:43 am
Hello. Are you still recruiting for this?
Sep 23, 2026 4:15 am
@Kyvern as a matter of fact I can fit one more player in. Invitation sent
Sep 23, 2026 6:30 am
Cool, fresh meat for the grinder. (Starship Troopers) Welcome aboard Kyvern.
Sep 23, 2026 9:58 pm
Thanks! I look forward to giving this a go.

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