About the Dragonreach Campaign (Pinned)

DRAGONREACH is a D&D campaign involving multiple DMs (Tom, John, Travis, and hopefully more soon) and several dozen players.  It is a "drop-in" campaign that meets every couple weeks, with all the players adventuring in the same world.  It began in December 2018, and is still going strong years later, with more than 50+ games completed to date.

A link to the (waaaaay too long) HOUSE RULE PACKET (updated Nov. 2023) is HERE.  It has all the rules for character creation, earning and using Dragonshards (our version of D&D 5e Inspiration), and spending gold on titles, holdings, and memberships in various factions (which give characters bonus starting Dragonshards as well as many other benefits).

Dragonreach - A Land Unconquered

This land yields to no master.  Fearsome beasts, savage hordes, and unspeakable horrors await any who would try to claim it.  The elves tried first, crossing the Sea of Storms in their tall ships, but their towers were razed and toppled.  The dwarves came next, but they, too, were driven into isolated holds and all-but exterminated.  Man, as is often the case, has been slow to learn.  At least six separate attempts have been made to claim the Isle of Dragonreach, each ending in fiery cataclysm.  The seventh such attempt is underway now...

After borrowing titanic sums from a number of kingdoms and merchant princes, the mighty and ruthless Invincible Overlord of Dragonreach, Setebos Du'Graal, has reclaimed and is rebuilding the port city of Pyre.  Adventurers from every land have been called to assist the effort, lured with the promise of wealth beyond measure, as well as lordships, titles, and their own fiefdoms if Dragonreach can be tamed.

The land about you is said to be filled with all manner of incredible treasures, scattered across the ruins of both ancient civilizations and prior, would-be conquerors.  But, above all, only in Dragonreach can the incredible crystals known as "Dragonshards" be found.  They are said to be the most potent form of raw magic anywhere in the world...

Merry Wintermoon! (Games Seventy-Six through Seventy-Eight)

It was a very merry Wintermoon, when (among other things) the folk of Dragonreach honor the most magical time of year, when Sinterclaws and his flying Paindeer travel the world delivering presents to good boys and girls, and carry off the bad back to his home in the Abyss...

In the Seventy-Sixth foray into Dragonreach ("Bloody Winter Moon"), a band of seasoned heroes attended Lord Gelgaran "Goldsword" Dross's Wintermoon celebration - only to find that Sinterclaws was, indeed, coming to town for their souls...

Fortunately, even though several heroes (and the Overlord himself) were dragged to the Abyss, their companions rushed to their aid, and all were able to survive yet another Wintermoon!

In the Seventy-Seventh foray into Dragonreach ("Hunt the White Worm"), another band of heroes sought to cure a strange disease that was causing folks' heads to explode when tempers flared.  The last ingredient needed was the blood of an ancient and massive Remorhaz that roamed the frozen wastes of the North...

And, in the Seventy-Eighth foray into Dragonreach ("Home Alone"), a band of heroes handily defeated a mutated cult of the Prophets of the Horror Below - but were accidentally reduced to seven-year-olds while waiting at their patron's house.  Without their normal skills, powers, or items, they needed to defend their patron's home (with improvised weapons and boobytraps) from waves of cultists until he returned...

More Dragonreach adventures soon - and Merry Wintermoon to all!

Game Seventy-Five: Curse Collectors

 In the Seventy-Fifth foray into Dragonreach, a band of heroes took a job from Guzmondo the Magnificient, a dealer in questionable magical items who had supplied many an adventurer...

Guzmondo had mistakenly sold a shipment of cursed and dangerous items.  He needed them recovered, quickly, lest they kill someone and the Arcane Conclave hold him responsible.

The heroes rushed to a nearby market, where some of the purchasers could be found.  But, unfortunately, several of the cursed items were triggered - summoning hellhounds and several quasits.  And, the cursed, uncontrollable flying carpet was racing across the sky bearing a terrified wizard atop it...

After restoring order, the band scoured the city, tracking down each item (freeing a noble who could not stop dancing in his new magic shoes, stealing a berserking axe from a hulking barbarian, and recovering a "mummy staff" that was offered at the circus as a prize), and finally managing to disable the flying carpet and rescue the terrified wizard. 

Guzmondo's business was thus saved - to the great relief of every adventurer who enjoys his patented "I Can't Believe It's Not Mana" potions. 

Games Seventy-Four: The Herd

 In the Seventy-Fourth foray into Dragonreach ("The Herd"), a band of novice heroes accepted a contract to investigate a remote farmstead, from a perfectly normal farmer...

...who reported strange doings surrounding his perfectly normal herd of cows...

The party's novice paladin quickly deduced that the cows were (mostly) extraplanar "Abyssal Cows" somehow summoned to this plane.  

A series of mishaps led the party to being surrounded by the intelligent, malicious, and man-eating demon cows, and fleeing into a hidden, flooded passage under the cow pasture's pond - whereupon they found an imprisoned demon who claimed to have been trapped by some sort of lich until it had granted a certain number of boons to mortals.  One of the farmers, it seemed, had been availing himself of the demon's boons.  

 After accepting a few demonic boons, the party decided that further exploration underground was too dangerous, and so tried to escape back out of the pond.  Unfortunately, the cows and the corrupted farmer were waiting...

The band desperately hacked their way past, with the unfortunate paladin dying in the attempt, and fled.  This night, at least, the demon cows prevailed...

Game Seventy-Three: Against the Drow

In the Seventy-Third foray into Dragonreach, a band of experienced heroes were hired to rescue Thyra, the elvish princess of Immyr, who had been kidnapped by a group of drow and duergar under the banner of the Xorlarrin Consortium.  

Our heroes tracked the princess to the Underdark beneath dragonreach, assaulting a duergar citadel guarding an underground river trade route...

After a deadly battle, negotiations with a band of devil-worshipping knights of the Order of Nessus, romantic advice for the elf-hero Filorian, and many strange encounters, our heroes battled a legion of drow, driders, and cultists from the Six-Fingered Hand, who were attempting to sacrifice the princess and summon the demon prince Juiblex, the Slime Lord... 

Fortunately, the princess was rescued, but not before Juiblex was summoned and loosed beneath Dragonreach, perhaps to return in a new adventure soon...

Games Sixty-Six through Seventy-Two: Lizard Men, Dalton, Goblin Tanks, Gratuitous Nudity, Forsaken, and Even an Election!

It has been an eventful few months in Dragonreach, since the near destruction of the city by an ancient red dragon!  A quick recap to catch up our fellow adventurers...

In the Sixty-Sixth foray into Dragonreach ("Evil Swamp"), a band of heroes boarded a boat to explore a deadly swamp and hunt down a fearsome tribe of lizard men who had been attacking merchants.  A short stop at a cursed swamp island was ill-advised, and led to the party's ship almost being sunk by a horde of skeletons...

And, the lizard-men island was only cleared through a deadly battle...

In the Sixty-Seventh foray into Dragonreach ("Roadhouse"), a band of heroes took a job to clean up a remote tavern plagued by Duergar bandits, extortionist kung-fu monks from the Jade Wasps, and other troubles...

In the Sixty-Eighth foray into Dragonreach ("Dirty Business"), a band plunged into the ancient sewers beneath Dragonreach, facing off against ratmen and vampires, racing against rivals to find the lost Temple of Swords...

In the Sixty-Ninth foray into Dragonreach ("The Great Goblin Machine"), a band was hired by the Overlord to track down some goblins who had absconded with a terrible war machine... 

In the Seventieth foray into Dragonreach ("Naked and Afraid"), a band woke on a strange island drugged and bereft of their equipment, and hunted for sport by an evil adventurer...

In the Seventy-First  foray into Dragonreach ("Only Murderers in the Fort"), a band of heroes were hired to hold a remote fort against an army of Forsaken barbarians -- even while a devious murderer was picking off the defenders...

In the Seventy-Second foray into Dragonreach ("The Conclave"), a band hired on as security for the Arcane Conclave, which was holding an election for the new High Archmagus.  Things did not go as planned...

Fortunately, a reputable wizard won the election...

Game Sixty-Six: The Doom of Pyre!!!

In the Sixty-Sixth foray into Dragonreach ("The Doom of Pyre"), the Invincible Overlord of Pyre gathered a band of the most seasoned and experienced heroes for a celebration of the fifth anniversary of his conquest, only to see the city under attack by a flight of dragons, including Pyra'sala'thraxis, the legendary Doom of Pyre!

They battled their way across the burning city, attacked by enraged dragons at every turn...

Finally, they slew Maledictus the Metal Mage in the ruined Tower of the Arcane Conclave, and destroyed the Orb of Dragons he had stolen and used to summon the flight of dragons.  But, the city would not be safe until after they had slain the Doom of Pyre itself!

The Overlord's eternal thanks was bestowed upon the mighty saviors of the city:  Ereban Sife, Veego, Warchild, Grigor of the Guardian, Ella Juvens, Kalletorn, Roach, and Flint!