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Campaign of the Month November 2025: La Compagnie du Dragon Blanc

Finally, we are pleased to present you our September Campaign of the Month, La Compagnie du Dragon Blanc – join us in our exclusive interview with GM jean_luc_rousseau to gain a special insight on the mind behind the work!

Let’s start with the group: who are the players around the table?

Starting with 5 players, the White Dragon Company now has 8, ranging in age from 16 to…57 for the GM, which is me!

Tell us a little about your group: how did you meet and what led you to immerse yourselves in the world of Faerûn?

I’ve been playing AD&D 2nd Edition since 1984 and I’ve been passionate about the Forgotten Realms from the very beginning. I wanted to form a group, including two of my three children who discovered role-playing games through this. Other passionate friends have joined us for the past 3 years. Next March, our Company will be 4 years old!

How do your games unfold?

We play at my place and at our association, the Circle of the 3 Kingdoms, in Agde, in the South of France, usually in the evening.

How often do you organize sessions? Do you play in person, online, or in a hybrid format?

We play monthly, sometimes bi-monthly, and always in person. For me, distance breaks the immersion.

Most people here are familiar with D&D, but perhaps not the 2nd edition in particular. What appealed to you about this version?

I started with the first edition, then naturally moved on to the second. I like the fluidity of its rules. And it constantly takes me back to my teenage memories. I’m completing my collection for my son, a mage in the Company, who also loves this universe. The components of the second edition are magnificent, especially the cards. I love them!

You’ve certainly spent a lot of time on your various campaigns on Obsidian Portal. Which features have become essential for organizing and running your games?

The website is a very useful tool, providing a complete summary of each of our sessions. We add to it as we go along, and it’s a valuable reference tool. The character recall and management features are particularly useful.

I notice you have an eclectic mix of different fantasy worlds that many will recognize.

I agree, but I remain faithful to the overall storyline of this period in the Middle Lands. I incorporate elements that I adapt intentionally, but always respecting the story and the main events. I’m passionate about it, and the lore is so rich that it allows for easy adaptation without altering its core essence.

Are there any particular difficulties in merging these elements from such diverse worlds?

No, but I ensure the overall coherence. It’s important to maintain certain reference points.

The level of detail in your Adventure Journals sometimes makes me feel like I’m sitting at your table. How do you go about writing them? Do you manage it alone or as a team?

Thank you for the compliment! I do it alone, and it takes a lot of time, but it’s my passion! I do it all by myself, and I occasionally edit the summary, year by year, into a booklet for each of my players.

If you had to choose a single moment of resounding success or spectacular failure to describe your campaign so far, what would it be? Whether it was hilarious, poignant, or simply brilliant, we’d love to hear it.

A moment of success: I love role-playing, and we were able to spend an entire 5-hour session without rolling a single dice roll… the players were completely immersed in the game and their character portrayals—a real treat for the GM!

And finally, we always ask the question: what’s your secret to running a successful campaign?
The coherence of the whole, passion, and a solid “historical” framework that allows the players to feel like they’re part of the world they’re in. If you had to summarize your GM philosophy, what are the key ingredients that make your game captivating and keep your players coming back?

Allowing players to truly immerse themselves and embody their characters, rather than simply organizing a series of soulless battles. While combat is an integral part of the game, it’s not the most important thing for me. The relationships and interactions between players around the table are what make the game special, not the dice or the rigid application of rules! Freedom, consistent world-building, and role-playing form the foundation of my game philosophy.

Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure of COTY in December, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns!

Update Post – October 20, 2025

Hail, Portal People!

The season clock has chimed again, so it’s time for another reckoning. See below for all of the new features and bug fixes that were added to OP since the previous Update Post.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, feel free to post them in the Community Forums, or email support directly at [email protected].

Campaign of the Month October 2025: Mike Brock’s Mummy’s Mask Campaign

Delve deep into the land of Osirion following an intrepid group of adventurers called The Desert Guardians as they discover hidden treasures in the Tomb of Akhentepi in this Pathfinder Adventure perpetuated by GM coastiemike and his team of table top role players as they explore Mike Brock’s Mummy’s Mask Campaign.

First off, feel free to tell us about the person behind the GM screen.  Where are you from?  What do you do aside from gaming?  Alter Egos?  Life partners?  Family?  Where can we interact with you on the internet?   

I have been playing some iteration of RPGs since 1976 with my first ever GMing experience in 1982 when I ran one player through a short Star Frontiers campaign.  I really delved into GMing D&D/AD&D in 1985 while in high school.

I have also been lucky enough to work in the gaming industry when I oversaw the organized play program for Paizo from 2011-2015 with some help from a ton of amazing volunteers from around the world, many who I am still lucky enough to call friends.

I am originally in Georgia though work has moved us various times to Seattle, New Orleans, Reno, NV, and back to Georgia. I also spent time in Indianapolis, San Francisco, Connecticut and Miami when I was in the Coast Guard.

Aside from table top gaming, I paint 28mm minis for my campaign, as well as at the request of my players to match their PCs.  I have a pretty extensive Reaper Master Paints collection and have a dedicated paint workspace.  I also enjoy hunting, backpacking, and traveling.

My wife and I have been together for 22 years and have two awesome children and three amazing grandchildren.  

I don’t have a big on-line presence but I am occasionally on facebook.

How would you describe your Campaign in a nutshell.  Tell us a bit about the adventure group known as The Desert Guardians and their adventures in the Osirian city of Wati.

How long has your campaign been running and what made you choose Pathfinder as your gaming system?  Are you using Pathfinder Version 1 or Version 2?

We started this campaign in February of 2024.  We are using Pathfinder 1^st Edition.  When Paizo had it’s Dragon and Dungeon Magazine publishing ended, they created Pathfinder.  I had renewed my subscription to both magazines for three years and was offered to change it to the adventure path subscription. I absolutely loved D&D 3.5 and the progression to Pathfinder 1e was a no brainer.  We have stuck with it every since and have not considered switching to second edition as everyone seems to be having fun with PF1.

Please tell us something about your average gaming sessions.  How often do you play?  Online or Tabletop?  What is your gaming group like?

We are currently on a bi-weekly schedule, playing every other Wed night from 7-11 pm in our basement game room.  This is on alternate weeks of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path I am running for seven other players.  We play in person, around the table and it is an absolute blast.

Our players for Mummy’s Mask range in age from 18 to early 60s.  We have a few players who have been playing for 30-40 years, a few players with 5-10 years, and three players that this is their first tabletop experience.  This Mummy’s Mask AP is composed of four men and three ladies, a complete different experience from the Rise of the Runelords game with five women and two men.

All of my players take a keen interest in the game, providing character backgrounds that I like to weave into the storyline, and make their choices have real consequences in game.

Where have you drawn your inspiration from in creating the campaign?  Is it an existing Adventure Path?  If so, how have you added or amended it?  What other sources have been useful to you in setting up an Ancient Egyptian campaign?

It is an existing adventure path.  I have amended it by tying Legacy of Fire events into it from when we ran that AP 15 years ago.  Also, Mummy’s Mask is the jumpstart for an even longer campaign that will take the party into Planescape and mythic levels. I watched a good bit of History Channel and National Geographic documentaries, as well as documentaries on several ancient cultures on YouTube for inspiration and making the campaign world come to life. 

Most of the campaign seems to be centred around adventures in the Necropolis – in particular, the Tomb of Akentepi.  Give us an idea of some of the treasures and horrors encountered by your adventuring group, The Desert Guardians, in this hallowed place.

Book 1 of the AP centered around exploring the Necropolis.  The Tomb of Akentepi was one of three assignments the party received in the lottery to explore.  They lost one companion, a nagaji bard by the name of Serantis (and played by the same player who is running Corin now), to a Graven Guardian while exploring the Sanctum of the Erudite Eye found inside the Necropolis.  After exploring the Necropolis in book 1, they then moved into book 2 and the auction of items found by their group, as well as another 15-20 other adventuring groups.  During that auction, all hell broke loose with an undead uprising.  The party has finally tracked down the source of the undead uprising and now have entered book 3 of the AP in the Grand Library of Tephu where they are researching the artifact that caused the undead uprising and its origins. 

You have an extensive range of Adventure Logs, and it seems like you have good input from some of the players in your campaign.  How much do your team get involved in this and other aspects of the Campaign?

I award players who keep a journal a 10% bonus to XPs for the game sessions they write an in character journal entry.  Some of the players love writing their entries; others don’t enjoy journal keeping. I never force someone to write a character journal as it can be a lot of work btu like to reward players who take the time to do so.  My GM entries are more from a narrator stance.  Reading in-character journals of what they experienced helps me remember key events I may have forgotten, while also helping formulate ideas to better craft a character’s background and experiences to the overarching storyline of the AP. 

You can find both Zalina’s and Sidero’s character journals in the Wiki on our website.

Without divulging any major plots, what is your plan for the future of your central characters?

While in the Tomb of Akentepi, the Desert Guardians discovered a magical tapestry that serves as a direct portal to the River Styx as best as they can figure out.  They aren’t quite brave enough (or powerful enough) to enter just yet and have kept it a secret from all but themselves. They also haven’t divulged this info to Corin, knowing he may attempt to enter the portal to get back home back to Faerun.  Also within the past month, Zalina learned her younger sister had been kidnapped, and her parents (from Legacy of Fire AP) sent her a letter advising Zalina they were traveling to Sigil as that was the last known location they could find any information on their missing younger daughter.  Signs are pointing to, once the Desert Guardians put to bed the threat the Mummy’s Mask has presented, they may work their way towards Sigil, especially if Zalina hasn’t received any kind of update in months. By this time, we should be around 17^th-18^th level and looking towards a mythic level, Planescape campaign.

What would you say are the most useful tools available on Obsidian Portal, both in terms of Campaign Design and in terms of active playing?

The calendar is extremely helpful as it gives a full year of game days so everyone can make sure to keep their game nights free.  It is rare that we don’t have all seven players at a game as all players are invested.  The Wiki is also very helpful. Not only does it allow me to record experience points and treasure by game session to keep a running log, but it also allows us to keep a bestiary of creatures they have encountered in their adventures so they can harken back to the previous encounter for any future encounters.  The same applies to traps faced and overcome, though this is a more useful tool of the Rise of the Runelords group.  I can also use the Wiki to put general info on cities the Guardians explore so it is easy reference for players at the table.

Near the beginning of your campaign, there is mention of a rival adventure group, The Scorched Hand.  How much interaction has there been between your players and this group?  Did you plan this rival group from the beginning, and what benefits have there been to the campaign in keeping this rivalry alive?  Would you recommend the “rival group” notion to general campaign design?

The Scorched Hand was a rival adventuring group that was one of the other groups in the lottery to explore the recently opened Necropolis (at the Pharoah’s decree).  The party was assigned a location of special interest to the Scorched Hand. After the Guardians refused to relent to giving it up at the request of Velriana Hypaxes, leader of the Scorched Hand, it eventually came to a head when the Scorched Hand entered and took over the location and hired mercenaries to aid them in keeping it.  After a fierce battle, all of the mercenaries and half of the Scorched Hand were defeated.  The other two members of the Scorched Hand were released (though I suspect they may hold a grudge and the Guardians may see them again in the future).

The Scorched Hand was written into the AP from the beginning.  The party letting two of their members go after the confrontation has allowed me to write the two NPCs into the adventure later in the AP and we shall see how they end up resurfacing.  I would recommend it in some campaigns if it fits.  In other games, it doesn’t make sense to add a rival group.  It just depends on the background of the campaign and how the GM plans to interweave the two groups and their goals together.

Okay, as a last question, we always ask for the GM’s “pearls of wisdom”.  What GM insights can you offer the community this month?

I always ask for backgrounds of characters, regardless of how detailed or how little is provided.  It allows me to tie in character backgrounds into the storyline in interesting and weird ways.  When a background nugget pops up during a game, it really grabs a player’s attention and keeps them invested in the campaign.  As a recent example, through two full books and the start of a third, Sidero has had no contact with his homeland of Jalmeray or seen much in the way of goods being sold in marketplaces from his homeland.  In our last game, he saw in the crowded bazaar in Tephu, a former competitor in the grandest of martial arts competitions held in Jalmeray.  This left a quandary about whether to split the party so he could converse with the NPC or stay with the group. He ultimately decided splitting the party was a bad idea, especially in a new city.  Now, Sidero will have the thought in the back of his mind, why was that NPC here so far from home and what might he learn from that NPC.

Investing character backgrounds is always hugely important.  Not only does it pay dividends in making an interesting side story that runs parallel to the main story arch, it also gives investment into the campaign by the players and they will not want to miss a game in case their background makes an appearance.

Another pearl I like to keep in mind when running games is making sure I keep notes on loose ends that I can tie back into the storyline later in the campaign. It almost always catches the PCs off guard but I always see smiles on faces when they see their actions, or inactions, are still alive and well (or undead in some cases). They know their actions in game have consequences across the life of the campaign. 

A third pearl, I never try to tell a player no when they come up with a good idea.  Even if the DC will be tough to make, I let them at least try.  If they succeed, it is my responsibility as a GM to make sure they didn’t waste their action on something I was going to say no to all along.  Again, if it is a dumb decision, the party knows it will come back to haunt them in a future game.  But I have awesome players who don’t take advantage of the situation.

A fourth pearl, I respect my player’s time.  If they are going to be gracious enough to spend four hours every other week at my house investing themselves in my campaign, I am going to do everything possible to give them the best possible experience.   I am going to put the work in to provide the best possible experience, including maps and minis, sound effect sand background music (we have Bose surround sound installed in the game room), and visual aids and player handouts.  If the players are going to trust me to run a game, I am going to do everything in my power to make every experience memorable.  I also like to thank my players with small gifts.  They bring food and snacks and a good time to my house every other week.  At Christmas, I gifted each a custom wooden dice box with a set of dice that fit the theme of their character.  At our one year anniversary, I had artwork commissioned of their characters per their descriptions to hang on the wall of our tavern we play in.  Always appreciate your players and let them know that you value their time and investment. 

Finally, we welcome all players regardless of experience level.  In our tavern, we have a leather-bound guest book.  After a player plays one game in our tavern, they can sign the guest book in character.  This gives a running reminder over the years of the different players we have been blessed to play with. This also sets it up so if a player has a friend or family member in town for the week, we always have an extra seat at the table for the guest to play that week’s game with us.  It helps us grow the hobby and make friends who we will hopefully game with again sometime.  Always welcome guest players when you can. It will enrich your gaming experience.

Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure November 2nd, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns for our next Campaign of the Month!

Campaign of the Month September 2025: Broken Shield

Enter the world of Golarion, where a group of adventurers fight against the devastating power of the mighty lich known as “The Whispering Tyrant” to save the area of Lastwall from utter ruin.  Follow 10^th_King and his team as they battle against world-shattering danger to the tune of German and Finnish metal in the dangerous, yet adventurous campaign known as “Broken Shield”.

First off, feel free to tell us about the person behind the GM scr21een.  Where are you from?  What do you do aside from gaming?  Alter Egos?  Life partners?  Family?  Where can we interact with you on the internet?  

My name is Nick. I was born in Seattle, which always feels like home to me, but have lived in Richmond, Virginia for so long now that I should really stop telling people that first part. I am married to a phenomenal person who has been my inspiration for so many things. I actually had them come into this campaign to play as the former demigoddess Arazni. That reveal was one of the best moments early on because every time my wife came to watch us play, at some point in the session I had one of the PCs notice a scrying sensor watching the party, but none of the players connected the dots until the big moment.

You have a very prominent banner on your landing page that is both detailed and intriguing.  Why don’t you tell us all something about it.

One of my players commissioned a beautiful piece of art for the campaign featuring all the player characters in a Darkest Dungeon style. The video game was one of my early inspiration sources for the campaign’s atmosphere and I liked the artwork so much that it’s been my background on my home computer ever since. My players don’t know this, yet, but I altered the established adventure to make their characters functionally immortal partly because I appreciate this art and the enthusiasm for my game that it represents.

How long has your campaign been running and what made you choose Pathfinder as your gaming system.

This particular campaign is an adaptation of Pathfinder’s adventure path Tyrant’s Grasp and we’ve been playing it for about two years now almost weekly. Tyrant’s Grasp is a fantastic AP and Paizo used it to introduce some cataclysmic changes to their world of Golarion when they went to their Second Edition. My players and I have been playing in our own version of the Pathfinder setting (named by us Pathfinder Prime) for over 10 years. In that time, we’ve failed a lot of campaigns, both published and homebrew, resulting some sweeping changes to our own Inner Sea. I used Broken Shield to sell my group on PF2E and bring Pathfinder Prime in line with some of what I thought would be Paizo’s biggest alterations to the larger setting.

Do you play online or at a table?  Tell us something about your average gaming sessions.  How often do you play?  What is your gaming group like?

We play in person most weeks. Classically, everyone brings snacks and I always try to theme what I bring based on what will happen in the session. A quiet little hint for the players to puzzle out for my enjoyment. We play at one of my player’s houses so he can help watch his son who has also made an appearance in a couple sessions. As a whole, my players are very tactically minded, forcing me to constantly be on my toes to have any hope of challenging them, but since we have so much established history in this world we’ve built and between ourselves, we also have a lot of lore and cohesion we can rely on for character creation and role play. My group is all very creative, giving us a wonderful balance of fluff and crunch. Every one of their characters is my absolute favorite at varying points. Look into the OP page for some amazing examples of their talent, but for a brief overview we have Andre Goncharov (a.k.a. the White Spider, a now world-famous circus wrestler grown into his own tall tale), Raffletholomew Twice-Dead (the midwife “native” of the town where inciting events for the campaign begin and host to one of Pharasma’s most powerful agents now clinging to existence), Wil Scarborough (the orphaned child of a different player’s former character in our Carrion Crown game), Mathias Forest (the adopted son of that player’s own Carrion Crown character who was not concurrent with the character that died and orphaned Wil), and Apollonia (the daughter of that player’s own character in a homebrew game now carrying on that player’s many-year legacy and plans for the setting). Each of these was unknowingly and completely independently made to be perfect for the campaign and weaving their stories into the adventure has been delightful.

Tell us about life in Lastwall.  What dangers are still propagated by “The Whispering Tyrant”?  What sort of adventures do your characters get up to?  What are their quests?  What are the challenges?

For those unfamiliar with Paizo’s Pathfinder setting, the Whispering Tyrant is basically THE big bad. A classic lich necromancer bent on world domination and his own superiority over even the gods themselves, his power over death is unimaginable and nearly unstoppable. The AP as written is about him destroying Lastwall as a nation, leaving it a land of horrors and undeath. The characters have at this point traveled hitherto unseen parts of the world to try and find a way to stop his onslaught, and have only recently come back with any hope of actually being able to do so. They have been several catastrophic steps behind him up to now and have been repeatedly caught off guard by expecting things to follow normal game tropes. More than once, they’ve discovered the thing they set out to stop or learn about is either already in progress or has already happened. I’ve worked hard throughout to give them the impression that many of these events were destined to occur later in the story only to pull the rug out from under them. That has sometimes backfired, forcing my hand even earlier, bit it’s been a BLAST.

Is the main WIKI mainly set up by yourself?  Do any of your players help out?  Do you have any tips for newcomers starting to build their own campaigns?

I built the initial wiki, but life and time have gotten away from me. At this point, a couple of my players have largely taken control of it and are responsible for how incredible a resource it remains. From day one, I have rewarded player’s for adding content, bribing them with Hero Points, but their efforts have gone above and beyond. I am truly in awe of the work they do every week.

There are several musical links in your campaign, particularly in the adventure logs.  How important are these to your campaign?  Do you use music during your sessions?

I create new playlists to use in session for each part of the campaign. Every major milestone means a change to the tone of the music I set. One of the first, as an example, used a lot of video game music, heavily featuring the Darkest Dungeon soundtrack which may have influenced the commissioned banner a player got. Currently I play a lot of German and Finnish metal as the players explore a Dwarven ruin and Elvish artifacts. My players also use music specifically to set the tone of some of their adventure logs and in particular I’ve been impressed with how many of Wil’s logs actually line up in their writing with the music playing as you read it. Line breaks frequently match breaks in the music if you hit play just before you start reading.

Without divulging any major plots, what is your plan for the future of your central characters?

We are honestly in the home stretch of the campaign, so my players and I are really all focused more on the legacy these characters will have on Pathfinder Prime at this point. I recently tried to force them into a difficult heroes choice where they had to risk that legacy to save the world itself. The characters all elected to do the right thing, but the players were very frustrated with my decision. They blamed the source material (sorry Paizo!) and will only learn I’m the culprit reading this, but I wanted the stakes to be real. I had to backtrack on that choice a bit, but we’ve worked it into the story and after some checks, only one of them will suffer the full consequences.

What would you say are the most useful tools available on Obsidian Portal, both in terms of Campaign Design and in terms of active playing?

I have used OP for every campaign we’ve run in our Pathfinder Prime setting. I find it incredibly useful for giving players background on the setting and character creation. Our group has talked several times about creating an Obsidian Portal wiki just to have our own wiki for our Pathfinder games and tracking all the changes from the published setting. By far my favorite part of Obsidian Portal, though, are the adventure logs and players’ ability to document their own perspectives on each session or other events in their lives. As both a player and a GM, the insight into another character and the creativity we all get to display even between sessions is incredible.

What have your main influences been in building and running your campaign?  Think of literature, films, games, anything else.

There are honestly so many influences I draw on for this game. I’ve mentioned Darkest Dungeon a few times, but I’ve also relied on one of my favorite video games, Bloodborne, for creepiness and atmosphere. Supernatural and the Castlevania TV show have also been big inspirations. I have steeped myself in classic horror from Dracula and Frankenstein to the Cthulhu mythos to guide my own storytelling. I also listen to playthrough recordings of Pathfinder every day to keep on top of rules, and steal techniques and ideas from fellow GMs. I’d especially like to shout out Find the Path who are also currently going through Tyrant’s Grasp and who are a phenomenal podcast.

Okay, as a last question, we always ask for the GM’s “pearls of wisdom”.  What GM insights can you offer the community this month?

I am truly blessed to have a fantastic group of players who are just as invested in this ongoing story as I am. The best advice I think any GM can give is to communicate with your players and use them to help us all tell a group narrative. Take their ideas and their goals and rewrite everything if you have to. You can definitely still surprise them by twisting their expectations, but the involvement you get is incredible and unique. This is a cooperative medium and watching something grow beyond any of us has been truly beautiful. My thanks have to go to Obsidian Portal for giving us a place to store and refer back to our legacy!

Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure June 2nd, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns for our next Campaign of the Month!

Campaign of the Month August 2025: A Manifestation of Chaos: Extinction Event!

The lands of Oerth have endured generations of turmoil – still reeling from the Chaos War, still watching Iuz gather strength in the shadows. Magic falters where once it flowed freely, trade routes fracture, and even the once-stable Free City of Greyhawk teeters under the weight of corruption and conflict. Yet, amid the lingering darkness, Overking Stefan Boarke’s efforts to reunite the Great Kingdom have begun to shift the tide. Fractured alliances, long-soured bloodlines, and the ghosts of heroes past all circle a rare moment of potential unity: a long-anticipated celebration where whispers hint at something far greater than mere ceremony. This month, we’re thrilled to feature A Manifestation of Chaos: Extinction Event!, a richly layered Greyhawk saga helmed by GM Leonidas300, whose worldbuilding and attention to continuity breathe new life into an ever-evolving continent.

First off, feel free to tell us about the person behind the GM screen. Where are you from? What do you do aside from gaming? Alter Egos? Life partners? Family? Where can we interact with you on the internet?

I was born in California, grew up in Iowa but moved to St. Louis when I was 25. Aside from gaming, I do more gaming lol, pretty much the whole of my hobby time is gaming related or adjacent. Insofar as career, I’m an Accountant, I’m married, with step-kids. I am mostly on FB, in most any D&D related room. I’ve got a FB page called Metzgers Dungeons but I am terrible at updating it.

Tell us about “A Manifestation of Chaos: Extinction Event!” in a nutshell. How did you design the campaign? What was your inspiration?

This either requires a book of an answer or what I’ll try to do here… The design for this one was in response to my players’ feedback on the 1st Manifestation of Chaos campaign. They asked that this one have more intrigue and politics and to a man; I believe they would say that I have delivered on that. They bought an old school whiteboard to track campaign threads

How regularly do you play, and where do you play? Tell us about your current group of players.

We play 2-3 times a month in The Legendary Lair.

I have run some excellent groups over the decades, but this group is hands down the best. My current group, much as myself, are at the 50-55 mark, are comfortable with who we are and realize the precious free time we have should be spent with friends having fun. Most have been in the group for between 6-15 years.

Every one of them has helped with the portal.  whoppermd does the images and banners for the adventure logs, Jurgen1 has written the majority of the logs since session 40, but every player has written a log or two as well. Our player rblaine15 has won the Titan award which is normally reserved for the end of campaigns. 

What made you choose the Pathfinder? How does that system complement your campaign?

My guys and I like crunch; we like the limitless options/customization that Pathfinder 1e allows. The fact that PF 1e, is essentially an extension of D&D 3.5 means that the wealth of material to draw from is immense. I do a lot of custom monsters (campaign related) but having that material to draw on is great.

This campaign is part of a trilogy of campaigns. Please explain how a trilogy of campaigns work? What is the connection between the campaigns?

The events of the campaigns build upon what happened in the prior campaign, but the characters are different Towards the end of this campaign some of the old characters who are still around may get a chance to show up, depending on certain future in-game decisions ). I run my games from 1 to between 22-24th level, in truth after that level, most players are looking for fresh changes and challenges.

For example, in the original MOC, there were a great deal of things regarding ithilids, subspecies of ithilids and chaos creatures that went unexplored/addressed. That is going to have a major role in things, for this campaign.

The bones of these first two campaigns are stiped in the deep lore of D&D (Greyhawk specifically) but other D&D lore as well, including nearly 35 years of home brewed campaigns. If they are successful in this campaign, The next and last MOC campaign will deal with the aftermath of the events of this one… It will be a Mythic Pathfinder 1e game.

If they fail, there will not be a 3rd MOC campaign as envisioned; I will instead take that opportunity to switch over to a conglomeration of OSR systems I am working on (Old School Essentials and Shadowdark as the bones, with elements of Dungeon Crawl Classics, Hackmaster and Hyperborea. It will use the Age of Hyboria as the setting.

You completely redesigned the Obsidian Portal interface, including the mouse cursor. What is the inspiration for that design and how long did it take to program?

Our member Glyph3x did the lions share, he is super talented in coding, it took him about a week to do the core design, the cursor, is the Atlantean sword from Conan; there is nothing more quintessentially adventure gaming than Conan. I did some of the coding and the vast majority of the wiki pages, (like all of them-lol). My players do adventure logs and work on the Latin spell pages when they want PRP’s.

How much time is usually spent preparing your game sessions? Describe a typical session.

In general, I spend between 4-8 hours preparing a session, upwards of 20+ hours if it is a dungeon or combat heavy session. I use a great deal of 3-d terrain and am known for massive dwarven forge set ups.

You split your character page into several sections (other than PC and NPC). Please explain the different sections.

This was a feature I was so glad the portal added. There are an enormous number of factions, characters, NPC’s, people of import that are in this campaign, this feature allows much easier access to them.

In your wiki section, you put a lot of emphasis on the game mechanics, like XP and gold division, but what I find most interesting is the Graveyard section. Can you please explain what the graveyard is and why it is needed in addition to the “Dead” section in the characters page?

The graveyard is reserved for actual PC deaths. A resting ground for those who gave all… The dead section on the character page is for NPC allies and “respected foes”.

You make a lot of “real-life” connections – you have the “Lair” section, as well as a wiki page designated to your players. What made you make this connection?

Our page comes off a bit heavy on the meta and even though it really does not play that way, we felt that having something to reflect that we are people with a good sense of humor and relatable to other gamers is important.

In your site, you say you moved from Obsidian Portal but decided to give it another chance. What made you stay?

… prior to the reforge, I was a very active member on the portal community pages but in the aftermath of the reforge trust and respect was broken, and I left in disgust. After OP was acquired by Thaen; Kallak, I heard some positive things and reached out to Twiggyleaf and GamingMegaverse and I found that they told it true that the portal was much improved and headed in a good direction.

If you had to pick just one thing, what would you say Obsidian Portal helps you with the most?

Transparency. I run a large group, having a centralized place where they can access everything campaign related is fantastic. They can access the rules, XP, PRP’s, Treasure and so on.

What would you say is the biggest highlight of your game so far (please also provide images and links if possible)?

Normally, I would have had my players answer this one, however I am going to be selfish and take it. The biggest highlight of the game so far for me (and I believe most of the others would agree) were sessions 38–39.

Backstory: My older brother jurgen1 taught me and my younger brother, Charles, to play D&D in 1981 and until he left for college in 86, we played every Sunday. I took over as the DM after that and started DM’ing other groups too. Charles dropped out of TTRPGing in high school (1990) and had very sporadic forays in gaming after that, Jurgen1 stopped TTRPGing altogether in 86. I, sans covid have run the entire way with a consistent game/group.

Anyway, Charles was due to visit us in St. louis and (not for the first time) I tried to get them both to agree to play. And for whatever reason they agreed, for the first time in almost 40 years, we played together again. I had come up with a scenario that I was able to fold into the current campaign and hubris aside, it was spectacular, everyone was on point, especially jurgen1 and Charles. Charles ran a clinic on how to run a thief. Jurgen1 immediately established a dungeon discipline that the others took to. Earnestly had the campaign not already had an over-reaching arch, the events of those sessions would have provided it easily.

For jurgen1, even though months had become years and years had become decades, the fire of the adventurer was still in his blood! He joined our group as a permanent member after that.

Okay, as a last question, we always ask for the GM’s “pearls of wisdom”. What GM insights can you offer the community this month?

Sadly, this “pearl of wisdom” has been the most grievously learned. Our dear friend and longtime member RenegadeRed very unexpectantly passed away a few months ago. Ren’s enthusiasm for the game was infectious and he was always willing to help, big Dwarven Forge set-ups, he was there. Helping me work out some deep lore for the campaign, he was there. Coming up with completely outside the box stuff in game, he was there. Doing some unwise actions that sometimes drove the other guys crazy, he damn sure was there.

The “pearl” is to make sure you take the time to appreciate your group and the adventures you have in the moment because you never know when they won’t be there.

Steel your nerves and ready your spells—this land holds no peace for the unprepared. We’ve lingered long enough in the shadow of crumbling thrones and rising powers. Our thanks to the ever-watchful Leonidas300 and his steadfast companions, whose tales echo like legends across the Flanaess. If you know of another campaign that deserves a place in the halls of greatness, don’t stay silent—nominate it in the community forums for a shot at the coveted Campaign of the Year!

Update Post – July 20, 2025

Hail, Portal People!

The season clock has chimed again, so it’s time for another reckoning. See below for all of the new features and bug fixes that were added to OP since the previous Update Post.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, feel free to post them in the Community Forums, or email support directly at [email protected].