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Campaign of The Month March 2025: Age of Conan: The Rise of Yig
Between the years when the oceans drunk Atlantis… and the rise of the sons of Aryas… there was an Age undreamed of. Onto this, CONAN! And also to a lesser extent YOU, the reader! For you have wandered the wastes to find our newest Campaign of the Month winner — “Age of Conan: The Rise of Yig” by award-winning game-maker and author jasonvey of Elf Lair Games. So, put on your best horned helmet and sharpen those two-handed swords before you read the tales of this troupe of talented travelers and hear the wise words of the wizard on the hill…
Obsidian Portal last spoke with you in 2017, when your “Nocturnum: Rebirth” Unisystem game won Campaign of the Month and we had the chance to make your acquaintance. What’s new in your life since then?
Hah! My entire life has changed since then. As with all of us COVID altered our whole world. I am no longer working as a content writer. My day job is now an SEO consultant, while I have also since launched my own gaming company, Elf Lair Games. The game that powers the Age of Conan campaign, Wasted Lands, is one of my games, using the O.G.R.E.S. system (which I’d love to see added to Obsidian Portal, but I have no ability to program character sheets!). I’m still working as a staff writer for Troll Lord Games as well, and we just re-released a new “reforged” printing of Amazing Adventures.
Your current campaign, “Age of Conan: The Rise of Yig” reads like a tale right out of a Robert E. Howard book. In your opinion, what makes games set during the Hyborian Age feel so wonderfully different from other sword-and-sorcery fare to which many of us might be more accustomed (e.g. D&D)? What draws you personally to these kinds of stories?
That’s actually a great question. For me I guess it’s just having been steeped in Howard and Conan since I was a kid – my dad introduced me to the old Ace Paperback series when I was 10 or 12, and it was a formative thing for me. The Hyborian Age is as richly detailed a setting as any other, and more than many, from Howard’s own seminal essay through the many pastiches (of widely varying quality) that have been done throughout the years. So I really think that’s it – what sets ours apart is just that I know this world like the back of my hand. I understand the appeal of the gods and men of that world, of the struggle between barbarism and civilization, and the rich history and cultures that populate the world. Conan and the Hyborian Age, to use a cliche, are much imitated, but never exceeded.
Tell us a little about the rules of “Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age”, the “Powered by O.G.R.E.S” system, and what you like best about using them for your campaign.
O.G.R.E.S. has three mechanics, inspired by the earliest days of role playing games. The first is a d20 mechanic, wherein you roll a d20, add attribute bonus and other applicable bonuses, and try to get a 20 or better. This powers attribute checks and combat.
The second is a straight percentile check, which powers skills and class abilities (including spellcasting). When you need to do something specific to your character’s skills or class abilities, you roll percentile against your chance of success.
The third is the Rule of 2. This is a GM-only mechanic that serves as a quick way to adjudicate any situation you’re not sure how to otherwise resolve. Just pick a die, roll it, and look for 1 or 2. On a 1 or 2, something happens. This governs things like surprise, trying to listen for noise when you don’t have a perception class ability, whether someone hears you sneaking up if you don’t have a stealth ability, whether you notice a hidden panel in the wall, and the like.
O.G.R.E.S. is drawn from and inspired by the earliest days of gaming, and the three mechanic approach offers an elegance in that it’s intuitive and quickly lets everyone at the table know exactly what’s going on based on who is rolling what dice at what time. It cuts down on “Hey, what is she doing? Can I try that too?” It’s also very fast playing and intuitive. It was specifically built for the kind of gritty high action play that swords and sorcery represents. It is also scaleable for different levels of gritty through cinematic play, so it lets you customize your game for the exact style you like.
We noticed that, as an author of games yourself, you seem quite adept at kit-bashing together exactly what you need for the rules, genres, and adventures that you want to run. We must assume that the advantages outweigh the potential problems with this approach or you wouldn’t do it that way — but what advice would you offer to those of us who want to mix and match our own systems and settings?
Don’t overthink it. Make a call and run with it. Learn to adjudicate things on the fly and do not ever overanalyze what you’re doing. In the end, as we used to say, the play is the thing. If the game is moving forward and everyone’s having fun, you’re getting it right. I’m also not a fan of re-inventing the wheel. If you’ve got a mechanic that works, there is absolutely ZERO reason to create a new subsystem. Just use what you have and 99% of the time you’ll find it works just fine.
You have some extensive experience in writing for the gaming industry and quite a few projects under your belt. Which ones have been your favorites, so far? Any upcoming titles that we should keep an eye out for?
Of course my own Elf Lair Games products under the O.G.R.E.S. system are my children right now – Night Shift is our modern urban fantasy game, Wasted Lands our Swords and Sorcery, and Thirteen Parsecs our sci-fi game. All 100% compatible, all using the same O.G.R.E.S. rules. Other than that? Amazing Adventures from Troll Lord Games sits right alongside my ELG works. That was my first ever core role playing game and it will always be my favorite child as a result.
What have been some of your favorite moments in “Rise of Yig?”
That has to be going back to the earlier days of the campaign. We were running the old Mongoose Betrayer of Asgard campaign, and the characters had sought an old soothsayer named Mimir deep in the Asgardian mountains for the answer to a prophetic riddle. Alas, as happens to all of us, we had a bunch of things come up and gaming was put off for like a month. So when they got back, we picked up. They found the lair, and Mimir, who says, “Why have you come seeking Mimir?”
There was dead silence for a minute. Then, one of my players (Robert, if I remember right) went, “Oh, s–t, why DID we come seeking Mimir??”
Laughter erupted, as the entire group had forgotten what they were doing in the ensuing month.
Your wiki and adventure logs have been a joy to read — lost kings, thwarted assassins, and ancient evils slithering back into the world, it’s just fantastic! Without giving away too much of the ending, what can we expect to see as the rest of the campaign proceeds?
You’ll have to wait and see. I will say that for die hards of Conan, some familiar faces and references will absolutely be turning up! You may already have noticed that I canonized the much-maligned Conan the Destroyer by having Jehnna as the current queen of Zamora and her retinue as of the end of that film still serving her. That was a fun little wink-and-nod. I have also mentioned in passing that one of the Hyrkanian city-states is currently ruled by a fiery-haired she-devil of a woman whose swordplay knows no equal. I’m not sure if she will actually show up (and I’m not sure that bit made it into one of the logs), but again, little references.
And as always, Obsidian Portal loves to ask for any new tips, tricks, or general advice from the last eight years since your previous win that you could share with other Game Masters, World Builders, and writers.
Again, the big thing is to never overthink it. Dive in with gusto and as long as everyone’s having fun, you’re getting it right. It’s okay to make rulings on the fly, and always stop to think, “do I already have a mechanic that will handle this?” You rarely need a whole new character class, or a new subsystem, or something like that. Never try to be innovative just for the sake of being innovative. It’s rarely needed. Stick to the KISS principle, and you can almost never go wrong.
Also, let me just say it’s a real honor to be named Campaign of the Month again – in the same month, I think, as our last one, no less! We’re excited for this, and stay tuned! I’m a little behind on adventure logs right now but am working to get caught up!
The honor is ours, Jason, and we thank you for sharing your creativity with the Obsidian Portal community once again! We look forward to reading more adventures from the Hyborian Age, soon.
We’ve passed along your request to the OP Support team to get your game systems added to our library. And for anyone who would like to add their own games or ask other questions, don’t forget you can always reach out via email to [email protected] for just about anything. Be sure to check out the help articles, Discord server, and community forums too — which is where you can nominate your own favorite campaigns for Campaign of the Month consideration.
Until next month, fellow barbarians!
Obsidian Portal Campaign of the Month January 2025: Mass Effect: Spectre’s Angels
A group of galactic super spies travel the known universe, using a manipulation of ‘dark energy’ to enable faster than light travel. Follow them on their travels as they discover strange races on even stranger worlds in the year 2178 when you step on to the ship of GM Optimusnorm and his team, in their Traveller campaign, “Mass Effect: Spectre’s Angels“.
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’m a Brit living in Dubai, UAE, where I work as an Investment Advisor, helping clients around the world manage and grow their wealth—whether through stocks, property, fine art, wine, or whisky. Outside of work, I’m a husband, father to two children, and a passionate gamer. I also enjoy camping and socialising, especially connecting with like-minded people. I’m proud to be a co-founder of the Gulf Roleplaying Community, a group we created to bring together roleplayers across the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East, offering a space for enthusiasts to connect and share their love for rolling dice around the table. I have been roleplaying since the late 1980s – I think my first RPG was Warhammer Fantasy RPG second edition.
You are running a Traveller space scenario, but before we get into further details, please explain in a nutshell the “Mass Effect”. What is it? What is its significance to the campaign?
“Mass Effect is a military science fiction franchise, best known for its critically acclaimed video game series. In the game’s universe, the term ‘Mass Effect’ refers to a scientific phenomenon based on the manipulation of a universal force called ‘dark energy.’ This technology underpins the series’ interstellar civilisation, enabling faster-than-light (FTL) travel, advanced weaponry, and biotic powers.
My campaign is a Mongoose Traveller 2nd Ed conversion set in this, universe, combining the franchise’s lore with the unique Traveller system, which is really the granddaddy of sci-fi RPGs
How long has your campaign been running and what made you choose Traveller as your gaming system?
The campaign ran for just over a year and is currently on hiatus while we explore other sci-fi projects (I am definitely more of a sci-fi than fantasy fan). Traveller was always my first choice for this setting because of its excellent character creation system, simple and flexible mechanics, and the inspiration I drew from other gamers who had successfully adapted a previous version of Traveller to the Mass Effect universe.
Your WIKI starts out by detailing Mongoose 2nd Edition Rules Conversions. How much work did this involve and what tips would you give to those enterprising GameMasters on Obsidian Portal who might be thinking of converting a Rule System to meet their personal needs.
This project has been a significant undertaking, but much of the groundwork was laid by fellow Obsidian Portal user Jacobkosh, who ran a Mass Effect Traveller conversion about a decade ago and generously shared his notes with me. I adapted those notes to the Mongoose Publishing 2nd Edition rules, and as a group, we’ve been tweaking, adding, and refining elements throughout the campaign. It’s truly been a labour of love. For anyone looking to attempt something similar, I’d recommend starting with the core rules and finding an understanding group of players who are willing to collaborate and help the game evolve through actual play.
You currently seem to have three active players listed. It is presumed they form the basis of the group, “Spectre’s Angels”. Tell us about this group and their place in the universe. And what about the people who play the characters? How often do you meet and how do you all interact?
Living in Dubai means we have a REALLY diverse group of players. Our current roster includes another Brit, his Lebanese wife, and a Russian. We also had a Filipino gent with us but he had to move away and couldn’t make sessions anymore. The transient nature of expat life often means people move on when they change jobs or relocate. As I only game in-person this means we sometimes gain and lose players.
The concept behind ‘Spectre’s Angels’ was inspired by the Spectres in the Mass Effect universe—elite agents with broad authority, akin to super spies. In our campaign, the group operates under a Spectre, much like Charlie’s Angels (hence we called it Spectre’s Angels!). The PCs themselves are a disparate crew with individual agendas but share a common goal: to pay off the debts on their ship and ultimately gain full independence.
We played every two weeks on average but again, the nature of expat life meant people go home for the summer, travel for work, head back for Christmas holidays etc so sometimes a month or more would go by between sessions.
How much of your gaming time is spent on space travel as opposed to action on various worlds? Feel free to give us a brief overview of the type of scenario your characters could normally expect during your campaign.
Space travel is usually quick in our games, unless the adventure itself takes place on a ship en route to somewhere. Most of the time, it’s about getting to a world, space station, or other location and jumping straight into the action. We tend to enjoy a mix of 50-75% investigation and interaction, with 25-50% combat.
One session turned into an epic bar crawl across a massive space station as the group hunted for a missing person, discovering weird cocktails and shady establishments along the way! Some sessions focus more on combat, but overall, the group isn’t too combat-heavy.
Did you build the Campaign yourself? While building your campaign, what tools did you find useful? Do any of your players get involved in the Campaign design?
I always build my campaigns from scratch, starting with a session zero where the players come together to create their characters. This gives them a chance to develop interlinked agendas and backstories, which I then use as inspiration and fuel for shaping the campaign. It’s a great way to make sure the story feels connected to the characters and their goals. I don’t really use any specific tools except Obsidian Portal and my digital notes.
Without divulging any major plots, what is your plan for the future of Spectre’s Angels?
The game ran just before the events of the Mass Effect 1 PC game. The future will likely be in parallel to the events of that first game, bringing in themes and plots that relate to the main story.
Having been a member of Obsidian Portal for over ten years, what would you say are the most useful benefits for you as both a Campaign Designer and as a person running a campaign?
Having one central place for both me and the players to refer to is invaluable. With the expat lifestyle sometimes causing long gaps between sessions, it’s great to have everything in one spot to refresh our memories and keep building on the campaign whenever we’re ready.
For me as a GM, it’s also a great way to gauge player engagement. Those who aren’t really into the game tend not to update their characters and get involved in the Portal, which helps me figure out if we’re a good fit to keep gaming together.
Are there any specific adventures you have had that stand out in your memory as being particularly fun for you and your players? Feel free to add any pictures or links.
We really had fun with a Casino heist scenario where the PCs managed to stumble through every step and succeed in the least subtle way imaginable! There’s been a number of ‘bumbling successes’ around the galaxy – often in clubs and bars!
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?
At its heart, gaming is all about the people. Every gamer is different, and as GMs and players, we all bring our own expectations and standards to the table. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that having the right group makes all the difference. A group with committed people who are truly present can thrive even with an unfamiliar system or an improvised adventure, while a mismatched group will struggle—even with the perfect story and a deep understanding of the rules.
Focus on building a group that clicks, and the rest will fall into place.
Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure February 2nd, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns for our next Campaign of the Month!
Obsidian Portal Campaign of the Month September 2024: Echo of The Mists
Travel into this dark fantasy world – tune into the dedication of carefully crafted set up designs and story telling, by joining us in talking with shawnrstaub, the GM behind Echo of The Mists, the winner of our Campaign of the Month for September 2024!
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?
Answer: Where can we interact with you on the internet? I am originally from West Virginia until my wife and I moved to Maryland for work and to start our family. My wife teaches 2nd grade and I work as a branch manager at a bank. Before COVID, I played bass in a heavy metal band themed around the “Legend of Zelda” game series called “Master Sword,” touring around the country playing the nerdy convention circuits. I retired from that life after my oldest daughter was diagnosed with cancer, which I’m happy to report, she has made a full recovery and started 2nd grade today at the school my wife teaches. Now, I spend my free time with my family and building terrain for my D&D games as well as 3D resin printing.
How regularly do you play, and where do you play? Tell us about your current group of players.
Answer: My D&D group is actually a really great story. I only started playing D&D around 2021/2022 when I was invited as a player to a game hosted by my former band mate and her husband and two other couples (sadly, my wife has no interest in TTRPGs). I’ve always enjoyed building and creating cool nerdy things (in my Zelda band, I learned how do leather working so we could wear custom armor on stage). So for that group, I built a custom gaming table with a 55′ TV screen in the center so we could use digital maps – this was before I started building 3D terrain.
After posting pictures of my gaming table, I was messaged by two separate Fraternity Brothers that I’ve not spoken with in nearly a decade telling me how much they liked my table. They shared with me that they had never played D&D, but never had a group or the confidence to try it out. So I reached out to 2 other Fraternity brothers who I knew played, and the five of us started a game with myself in the position of DM! What started out as a Ravenloft one shot turned into an full-blown campaign that continues to this day. Life is busy, however, so we only get to play once or twice a month, alternating between in person and digital games depending on everyone’s availability.
Tell us about “Echo of the Mists” in a nutshell. How did you design the campaign? What was your inspiration?
Answer: Echo of the Mists is a homebrew campaign based in the Ravenloft setting combining classic Ravenloft lore, 5e lore, or homebrew content (whatever speaks to me or works in the moment). Although it has yet to be revealed to my players, they will eventually learn that an “echo” refers to the manifestations of specific, powerful entities that exist throughout the multiverse of D&D as “variants” of those entities. One such entity has unwillingly trapped itself within the cage of Ravenloft and is using its power to draw in (and devour) its own echoes in an effort to gain more power and escape.
Why did you choose Ravenloft as the setting for your campaign? How does the setting complement your plot?
Answer: I love vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and all things spooky, so Ravenloft was a natural choice. Admittedly, our game is more “dark fantasy” than “horror,” but it still allows for me to explore dark themes and spooky stories.
Your wiki section details a lot of domains, but some don’t have a wiki page. Do you add the details of these domains as the players move from one domain to another?
Answer: There are A LOT of Domains in Ravenloft – too many for me to possibly develop between my family life, work, and creating terrain, painting minis, and creating content. So I develop the world as the players move through it and help guide what needs to be developed and what doesn’t. I also love having my players contribute to the world, so whenever I can, I have them make decisions about the world and characters within it. For example, there are times I’ll ask my players to create features in the world like a family estate or a describe the people from their past. I’ll take their ideas and integrate them into the stories, scenes, and settings that they will explore.
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition has relatively few Ravenloft books. Are you using any materials from previous editions for your domains?
Answer: Oh yes, the older lore has lots of great content. I routinely incorporate “canon” material into my game, but love to fill in the gaps with my own homebrew. I’ll even try and marry the old and new lore on occasion. For example, in 5e they gender bend the ruler of Falkovnia – Vlad Drakov – into Vladeska Drakov. In my game, Valdeska is the daughter of the original Dark Lord who has systematically butchered her many, many siblings to take the reigns of power as the undisputed ruler of the land.
How much time is usually spent preparing your game sessions? Describe a typical session.
Answer: Its hard to say how long I prepare because I do it in bite sized chunks after my kids go to bed while I’m watching Netflix with the wife! I’ll write it little notes and ideas to myself and come back to it later. As any DM knows, some content you make gets completely bypassed by players, but I’ll often “recycle” that content. The old catacombs that the players never explored becomes and underground fortress of a necromancer of laboratory to a mad scientist. I’ve learned that if you “save it for later,” later never comes!
How long have you been using Obsidian Portal? What brought you to the site and what keeps bringing you back?
Answer: I think I started in 2022 as a way to store my ideas and content. I would never be able to remember everything, so having a man repository that is organized the way I like it is super helpful. I’m 99% sure my players don’t even use this wiki, but it sure is helpful for me to keep my world straight and organized.
If you had to pick just one thing, what would you say Obsidian Portal helps you with the most?
Answer: Organization for sure. Visuals help me remember things far better than names and texts, so having things arranged exactly the way that makes sense to me is very helpful.
What would you say is the biggest highlight of your game so far (please also provide images and links if possible)?
Answer: Anytime I can get the reaction of “I REALLY hate that guy” from my players regarding an antagonist feels like an absolute victory to me. Also, when my players geek-out over my table setups, it makes all the work I put into them worth it.
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?
The game and story are better if you don’t stubbornly cling to what you think SHOULD happen, but instead let the story naturally progress. The classic saying is that no story survives the encounter with the players, so let that inspire you. I often will come at a setting with the mentality of “what would happen if the players did NOT intervene?” Then, I use the choices the players make inform what DOES happen, and more often than not, its unexpected and better than what I would have planned. I love not knowing what will happen, so every session is exciting and rewarding for everyone at the table.
Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure September 1st, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns for our next Campaign of the Month!
Obsidian Portal Campaign of the Month November 2023: Violet Hill
Saddle up, Browncoats, and take a gander at the goods in this November’s Campaign of the Month — Violet Hill, by Jonathonathon. It’s a veritable ‘Verse of slick design, custom rule-mechanics, and unique Firefly/Serenity storylines developed over many iterations by a husband-and-wife team and it’s just plumb pretty. Fire it up and let’s get this bird in the air!
Salutations, Jonathonathon and congratulations to you and your gaming group on winning Campaign of the Month! Please tell us a little about yourself, how you found your way into roleplaying games, and how your group found each other?
Thank you! I’m really excited you guys took notice of the campaign and selected me! Sorry the site isn’t mobile friendly, my most recent ones will be through!
A little about me: I’m Jonathon and when I’m not scribbling game notes I work my day job as an eCommerce manager. I’m an omnichannel digital marketer but mostly specialize in analytics. I found my way into tabletop games in college when I worked at a grocery store. While I was working a register for my shift, my coworker pulled out a Players Handbook for D&D 3.0 and I started asking questions. Eventually she invited me to a game and that was my first experience with a ttrpg.
My current (and only) PC is my wife, and we actually met because of gaming. I ran into her then-boyfriend on our college campus one day when I was late to class and we chatted for a few minutes. He briefly mentioned a game he was running and asked if I was interested, so I showed up and joined his group where we met. It was a BESM game set in the Outlaw Star universe.
I used to have a pretty regular group for a while but we all grew apart, so mostly I just run games for my wife now. We try to get in a session on weekends when we can scrape together a few hours. Unfortunately it’s tough to bring in more people with an inconsistent schedule and heavily homebrewed mechanics.
Your campaign, “Violet Hill” is set in the universe of the Firefly TV series, using the Serenity RPG mechanics. Could you give us a few, brief highlights for those unfamiliar with the setting and game system?
Sure. We use the old Cortex system, not the most recent and probably more widely known Cortex Prime. The system uses a die rating of d2 through d12 and every trait in the game can be measured on that scale (with the exception of Assets until an alternate version of the system was released in a later publication called Big Damn Heroes). What we love about Cortex is the plot point system. It rewards players for cool descriptions and ideas, and in turn they can use those plot points for things like minor story edits. I like the system because it actively encourages players to be more involved in the game. After you get to know the system, it’s also crazy easy to write and stat for.
What’s the story of “Violet Hill,” so far?
We’ve run this campaign around half a dozen times now, so there’s quite a bit. We first played a pretty traditional Serenity game but I really like running high powered fantasy games. So I started working on a rule set to bring a high fantasy vibe into the world. Thus the “Red” game was born. It was the idea that the Alliance had released a compound which caused people to develop unique powers. The “Red” game ran through a few iterations of mostly super-hero-esque Serenity fun but my wife and I continued developing the story and iterating on the concept.
Eventually every color of the rainbow became its own mutation with unique attributes and the story of “Red” continued to evolve. My wife and I used to trade off running games and we would build on the cannon that we wrote with each successive game. Where we wound up with it is that Red is a fraction of the genetic material of an advanced alien race that the Alliance is trying to understand and control. The alien race that are the progenitors of the mutation have incredibly advanced abilities and technology but their motives have changed from campaign to campaign. At first they were just explorers that happened to accidentally get captured and experimented on.
In our most recent campaign, they’re a pacifist race being attacked by another conquering alien race but have embraced pacifism so completely and for so long they’ve long since lost the ability to defend themselves. Most of the race believe that if they can’t escape the alien invaders they should resign themselves to their fate, but a splinter faction searched the universe for an answer and found humanity. As we all know, humans have a long history of gruesome experience in war and were ideal candidates to fight back. So this small sprinter faction began implanting a small part of their genetic material to mutate humans in the hopes that they could rally an army just powerful enough to save their species. The campaign tells the story of the humans that have been drafted, their quest to overthrow the Alliance to unite humanity, and return to the home galaxy of their alien benefactors using their advanced technology to fight back the invaders.
The alien mutations mechanics described in “Violet Hill’s” wiki are very intriguing. Where did this idea come from and how has it played out, in-game?
Just the desire to bring a superhero/gritty fantasy element into the Serenity universe, although we began exploring the powers further with each campaign iteration. Early on the mutants were identifiable by their eye color which changed when they were exposed. It was a quick and easy photoshop effect we could apply to customize character pictures a little and give PCs bonus XP for. We took to just calling them by their color after that. Reds were superhero lights at first, then we developed different stages of mutations with more powers. After the Red campaigns we moved on to the color Violet. These mutants had higher highs than the Reds but more complications. A big part of their abilities were naturally forming hive-like structures which lent itself well to the crew-style game Serenity was based on. We also wrote custom assets to support this mechanic, further building on the system we’d already established.
The rules have lent themselves to some truly epic moments in game: saving a colony on the Rim that’s out of water by drawing it from nothing, growing biomechanical ships with technological capabilities far beyond what humanity has achieved, growing an additional organ off the brainstem to control an entire army of mutants directly, boarding ships by “jumping” onto them in the middle of intense space battles, and much more. It’s definitely a different tone and feel than the show but there’s still plenty of six shooters and swearing in mandarin to go around.
Your Obsidian Portal profile shows that you have been on the platform for quite a while and have experience with a wide variety of games. If you had to narrow it down, what would be some of your favorites and why?
Yeah I’ve been on OP for over 13 years now. OP was exactly what I was looking for since my games were moving from paper to the digital space unavoidably. At first I was a little resistant because I loved the pen and paper aspect of the hobby but practicality finally won out. OP is just such a convenient way to communicate with players and compile everything all in one place.
I love to try a little of everything, but I have a few stand-out campaigns that I really enjoyed and was inspired to run. I ran a Changeling: the Lost game about a girl who inherited a Goblin Market Stall from her grandmother and began acquiring supernatural powers through deals but was otherwise completely human. One of my wife’s favorite games was “Corporate Woman” which was run in Chronicles of Darkness, where she was a human that could wear supernatural templates like suits and used them to infiltrate different supernatural societies at the behest of a mysterious corporation run by an impossibly powerful administration. I’ve run a BESM game based on one of my favorite anime series, Soul Eater, which focused on a DWMA Meister and her journey through the academy. Adjacent to the Serenity system, I’ve run a Supernatural game where the players were supernatural creatures hunting other creatures that plays pretty similarly to Violet Hill. There’s quite a few, I like to bounce around a lot.
As for what’s next, I’m usually working on a few campaign ideas at any given time, but right now I’m writing a Pokemon Noir-style game inspired by the webcomic “Viridian City” (borrowing that name for the campaign) using the PTU system.
Do you or your players have any memorable moments, crazy twists, or favorite, Firefly-style quotes that were highlights during the campaign?
One of our campaigns involved a mercenary Captain with “Cold as the Black” but my wife, playing an Alliance-hating Rim folk girl, was set on bringing him out of his shell. They grew close over a dozen or so games until at one point they were planet side and her character was approached by a perfect duplicate of the Captain. The two of them merged back together (one of his abilities was that he could duplicate himself and never told her) because the original him was an Alliance Operative running interference for his clone and its crew. He had technically never met her before, but merging with his duplicate transferred all his memories and the Operative was pretty stunned by their relationship. She was pretty mad and it took a few sessions for her to forgive him, but they worked through it.
“Violet Hill” as well as some of your other campaigns, feature an innovative navigation interface with graphics that really help sell the themes and moods, as well as drawing attention to the information on which you want your players to focus. How did you create that layout and has it helped engage your players when they use the campaign site?
Wow thank you, that’s nice of you to say. I’ve got a pretty regular block of code I use to adjust the layout of the campaign then go into color schemas and particulars from there. I’m not all that great at coding and particularly terrible at anything art related, but I’ve been working a lot with MidJourney lately to create assets for my campaigns. It’s an amazing tool for GMs, I can’t tell you guys how much time I’ve saved from not having to comb through pictures for my games trying to find just the right one. It’s really streamlining how long it takes me to prepare. Viridian City is the first time I’ve incorporated layouts from MJ as well as assets to build a campaign, but it’s still very much a work in progress. Historically everyone that is in my campaigns is on desktop so that’s all I wrote code for but this time around I’m trying to make things more mobile friendly.
The setting lends itself well to just about anything — exploration, politics, ground combat, space combat, intrigue, heists, stealth missions, and good old-fashioned misbehavin’. What’s your favorite and what do your players like best?
My wife is all about relationships in games and lives for a great romance and getting to know the NPCs. I’m all about tactical encounters and creative problem solving. Our campaigns usually meet somewhere in the middle. Quippy dialogue and outrageous plans are also frequent additions, as the complication “Overconfident” is often responsible for a ton of plot points changing hands.
Obsidian Portal loves to hear the wisdom of winning GM’s. Do you have any tips or advice for writing stories, running games, building worlds, tweaking mechanics, or keeping the fun going that you’d like to share?
Find a way to make every game special. Most GMs I’ve met do that through story but I advocate for doing it in mechanics as well. When I run D&D games, I borrow a tradition from a friend of mine where he gives every player a wish to really customize their characters. It ensures each character is truly unique and something that no one has ever played before which we all loved. We evolved that into an “Ultra Point” system which allows players to buy up additional class features to really play a truly unique character by exponentially compounding character options. It’s also a great tool to round out a party for smaller groups as players started to drop off.
As you can probably tell from Violet Hill, I love to write custom mechanics to ramp up the campaign and then challenge myself to balance the game around them. I’ve known a lot of GMs that were staunchly against giving their players power and never understood why. I’d encourage GMs to let things get crazy from time to time. The more creative power you give your players, the more interesting solutions they’ll devise. The mechanics all come down to equations and probability, so it’s easy to let your players feel really powerful and still present a balanced (or challenging, or easy, or whatever you want) campaign to the table because everything else is under your control.
Lastly, and I know it’s probably been said to death but, one of my rules to live by is to play your way. It’s really discouraging to go to places like Reddit and other forums where “purists” believe games have to be played a certain way. If you have a great idea for a game you should go for it, and surround yourself with influences and people that inspire instead of criticize. Even if that’s not your cup of tea, when you read something from someone reaching out for inspiration to go a different direction than you would, be supportive instead of dismissive. What matters more than anything else is nurturing our passion for this hobby we all love.
Thank you for choosing Violet Hill as CotM for November!
Wellsir, it’s a mite late and the ol’ brainpan’s full of new know-how. So let’s call it a night with thanks to Jonathonathon on a bang-up job. Obsidian Portal is always looking for new nominations for Campaign of the Month, and you can submit your favorites here.
Also, keep an eye out for news on our Campaign of the Year competition, which is happening soon!
Obsidian Portal Campaign of the Month September 2023: Arcanearth
Do you enjoy Dark Fantasy? You will love this month’s CotM- Arcanearth! Great evil and selfless good, Magic, Angels and Fallen Angels. Religions play a big part of the world as well! This D&D 5E game has seen epic battles against ancient Dragons, Overlords, and giant frogs! The world itself has seen Ages of Angels, Dragons, Magic, Ice, and Rebirth! Come explore this rich world created by Omegabase and crew!
1. Tell us about the person behind the GM screen. Where are you from? Where can we stalk you on the internet? What do you do aside from gaming?
Not much of a social media presence beyond OP. Live and work out of Austin texas. Father of 2 earning a living from IT consulting.
2. You made your home page your main artery to get information on your campaign- Why did you pick that approach? It is quite unique.
Didn’t see the need for another menu, convenient to have most info one click away.
3. You run D&D 5E- What do you like about it? Are there any things you dislike about it?
In most ways it’s the best edition of d&d. I did tone down the ‘easy mode’ aspect by eliminating hit dice for healing on short rests, limited healing on long rests, and allowing only one death save. This certainly contributed to the only 2 pc fatalities. Probably would use a different system next time around, like PF2, or integrate rules from other systems, like PF2. Also might consider an OSR system like the forthcoming Shadowdark.
4. You added Rogue Modrons as a race- what do you like about them, and how important are they to your campaign?
This came about from a short mini campaign where the players took a break from their main characters and assumed the personas of favorite henchman. These sessions don’t appear as separate logs but are mentioned in session 74 when one of the henchmen, who subsequently became a PC for a new player, revisited a key location from the mini campaign.
The player of Hoxton chose a modron he liberated from the plane of mechanus in session 63. Rogue modron seemed the obvious choice as this player has a thing for bots…played the robot Strelok in the last half of the gamma world campaign.
5. You have a very detailed world origin story, as well as a focus on angels and religion, for your game. How important are these to your characters?
Settings as such generally don’t have much utility to players and that holds true here as well. However the setting is indispensable to integrating the pc’s into the world events and related adventures when running an epic scale world-shaking superhero campaign such as this one. Ultimately the players will appreciate being part of a living world and adventures thereof.
6. How regularly do you play?
On hiatus currently, 2-3 sessions monthly when playing. Sessions average 3-4 hours in length.
7. How long has your group played together? How long have you been running Arcanearth?
Most of this group has played together since the 80’s. Most also played the last 50 or so sessions of gamma world 2754. Arcanearth started dec 2017. One player has the distinction of appearing in almost the entirety of both gw2754 and arcanearth (Grek/Strelok/Finch/Hoxton).
8. You won CotM all the way back in 2016 for Gamma World 2754- what keeps you coming back to Obsidian Portal?
Familiarity and lack of any worthwhile alternative. It’s a great place to organize and document your rpg campaign. A friend is starting a shadowrun 4e game soon, maybe we’ll throw that up on OP as well.
9. If you had to pick just one thing, what would you say Obsidian Portal helps you with the most? Do your players get involved on the wiki too?
PCs use OP for character sheets and backstories. The searchable database helps a lot for finding old npcs and events from past sessions. The character pages are the single most useful feature for both players and GMs.
10. Where do you draw inspiration from when preparing your game?
This setting is from fall from heaven 2, a total conversion mod for civilization 4. The epic scope of the macro game is inspired by the FFH2 setting and the fantasy works of Michael Moorcock. On the micro scale, you may discern the influence of Jack Vance. See the sessions about a certain ‘Green Pearl’.
11. How much time do you usually take to prepare for a session?
On average across all sessions, not counting the original world wiki creation, probably as much time to prepare as to play (3.5 hours). The wiki and world building, hundreds of hours over the course of years.
12. What would you say has been the best moment your table has had thus far in your game?
For me, the green pearl sequence. For the pcs, possibly the waking of the sleeping god Danalin and defeat of the Overlords, or more recently, the close battle with the ancient red dragon Acheron.
13. Okay, before we get out of here, give us some of your best GMing pearls of wisdom.
Don’t be afraid to feature a few challenges where it is uncertain or even unlikely the pcs can win outright. Have an out if/when they lose, that leads to more interesting possibilities rather than simply a TPK. Epic foes filled with hubris typically want more from pcs than merely their deaths. Such as their services, use as bargaining chips, information, entertainment, conversion to the cause, experimentation, torture, or simply groveling submission. All of which provide ample scope for a dramatic comeback. Players (and GMs!) enjoy nothing more than hard-won triumph snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Victor
“Age just a number, one and one and one. We stronger than number. Next year I’ll be younger”
Li Na
Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure October 1st, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns for our next Campaign of the Month!
Update Post – June 25, 2020
Hey Obsidian Portal Community.
It’s time for another update post! Last time around, we had a span of two months between updates. This time, it has been about three. I’m still looking to find that “sweet spot”, and three is kind of feeling right at the moment. There’s something about the idea of an OP “quarterly report” (of sorts) that I like, so I may stick with that going forward.
That said, if you have any comments regarding the update schedule, please feel free to let me know. These update posts are for you guys, so if you want them more or less frequently, I’m all ears. Anyway, let’s get into it!
