The Houston Gauntlet - Tabletop RPG Community

Every Tuesday night, we will be meeting at:

The Forge Hobbies & Games:
115123 Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77079

Where we will be playing table top roleplaying game classics such as: Dungeon and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Dungeon World, Burning Wheel, Monster of the Week, or anything in else that captures our interest.

The City of Sails is but a headstone to the once fearsome naval power that once terrorized the sword coast. Long over are the days where sailors feared the black flags of high captains pirates. Had it not already been mostly destroyed at the time, the city might have fared better when the storm of blue fire tore throughout the planar cosmology, sparing nothing, as the source of magic itself burned.

Overnight, the trade routes the city had stayed fat on for the last century dissipated into the sea winds. Rage and violence overran the streets, as a mass exodus left much of the city abandoned, still to this day.

Now Forty years after the last of the cataclysmic flames burned away, the various peoples of the realms are starting to pick up the pieces.

You have come under the patronage of Motha Vengeance, an orc Sorceress who has decided to relocate her curse breaking business from an opulent trade city, to a notorious haven for would-be pirate kings, the city of sails. It is not too uncommon for people to befall a terrible Fate, and require assistance.

All manner of cursed items and magical diseases haunt these lands. While the storms of blue fires are gone, the instability of magic still routinely spellscars the hasty and foolish. You will venture in lost and dangerous parts of the city of sails, to recover rare curse breaking components and tomes of lore to help the beleaguered people of the city of sails.

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting first published in 1987 and is still being explored to the modern day. It is also the setting of the video game Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023) and the film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023). While there are many PLACES FOR adventures to be had, this campaign will focus primarily on the City of Luskan, aka the City of Sails.

Do I need to know anything about the Forgotten Realms?
No. The original Forgotten Realms is presented to the DM as more of a list of sites where adventures may be had, filled with half truths and rumors. There really isn't anything in it to worry about.

Why Not Create Your Own World?
I could endlessly talk about the benefits of familiarizing yourself with the original texts, the experience of playing in a shared universe and how I picked a location and time period that there wasn’t a lot of established lore, but at the end of the day, I only have so much time in the day to think about Dungeons and Dragons. I wanted to invest the maximum amount of time I could into designing the adventure.

Expected Gameplay - Action Adventure and Puzzles.
City of Sails will focus on exciting, rope swinging, skulking through puzzle filled dungeons and enduring freezing conditions. The plan is for an equal mix of skill challenge and combat. Combat and survival skills are recommended. Conducting Investigation and character RP are always welcome in my campaigns, but not required. Any kind of land mounts (like horses) or builds that specialized in overland travel are not recommended.

Difficulty.
The world is unbalanced by design. There will be difficult decisions and fights that will be a mistake to get into. Dungeons and Dragons is still a game centered around combat, but don't become complacent in your characters optimized abilities. Not every fight will be a knock out, drag out fight, so You won't need to min-max for my campaign. Now would be the time to play your fun and wacky builds or play a character that you want to play.

Player Character Development.
For Players with a vision for your character or have ambitions to do something wacky, like becoming an apex predator like a gelatinous cube, it will be better to inform the DM as soon as possible. The DM will request you fill out the Personality, Bond, flaw, ideal. If you roll, make sure you are comfortable with those results and roll for a trinket as well. Fun tone and Alcohol Consumption. Players tend to bring alcohol to consume during the game. No one takes anything too seriously.

Cancellation Policy.
If for any reason, you are mentally or physically unable to attend a session, do not feel guilty for needing to cancel. I don't want anyone to think of this as an obligation. My only request is that if you feel you are unable to make it, inform the DM as soon as possible. If at least 2 players are unable to make it, the session will automatically be canceled. People have unexpected problems, jobs, obligations, holidays, vacations. People also get depressed, shit happens.

Trans Dm.
The dm identifies as a transwoman, but is still presenting masculine at this time. Please understand that transitioning is a process and doesn't happen over night. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask. Violence,

Gore and Unsavory Actions.
As the DM, descriptions of violence and gore will be no more graphic than the 2023 film or the original Star Wars movies. It will be expected that players do the same. Just try not to be too serious, depressing, upsetting or violent with your character’s actions.

Players in Distress.
In anticipation of the unlikely event of a disagreement, argument or something that makes you uncomfortable or uneasy, inform the DM through signal or a private note. Per the player's discretion, the DM will resolve the situation as needed.

A great ravine splits the earth here, dividing the fertile northlands from the wastes of the south. A great blubbery tentacled beast lives at the bottom of the ravine, and in eons past it would ravage the land once every generation, rising hundreds of feet above the ravine’s edges before it shambled forth on slithering appendages to devour all living things in its path. When a powerful warrior-priest organized the neighboring villages to offer periodic sacrifices of a dozen virgins every decade, the pit-beast’s attacks were controlled—but at a cost civilized man could not stomach. The warrior-priest was dishonored and his order chased away. The pit-beast retreated to safety within the ravine itself.

Now a decade has passed since the last sacrifice, and the rumbles of the pit-beast can once more be heard deep in the pit. This time, though, there is another factor. People have emerged from the pit, herding great slithering tentacles before them. These people of the pit wear gray robes and have no faces. The local peasants have chased the robed men away on numerous occasions, and now the humble folk around the ravine fear for their safety. It was enough to fear the beast of the pit, now must they fear the people of the pit as well?

"The People of the Pit" is a Dungeon Crawl Classics module for 1st level characters, where characters riches, and fame—and perhaps to aid your neighbors along the way. Players should expect a a deadly gauntlet of enemies, where the opponents are sometimes conquerable and other times out of the heroes’ league. Smart players will know when to fight and when to run.

We will be using The X-Card as well as standard safety tools at the table, and the GM will check in with all players for comfort level before and during the game. Dice will be provided, and no prior experience with TTRPGS or Dungeon Crawl Classics is required.

Dungeon Crawl Classics is published by Goodman Games, and can be found at https://goodman-games.com/

New Players Welcome! The Norðlond Saga is a game set in the Norðlond setting, a Norse/Viking themed quasi-medieval high fantasy campaign setting (full of magic, fantasy races, and monsters) for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (DFRPG), powered by GURPS, which was created by Douglas H. Cole of Gaming Ballistics and documented in the 10+ books that Doug and other authors have written about the setting.

New players will be starting in Nordvorn (Northwatch) on the Jotunnáin river, which is the west anchor point for Audreyn’s Wall (large Dwarven made magic wall protecting the Nordlonds from the dragonkin in the Dragongrounds) and the east anchor point for The Palisade (a large human made wooded wall protecting the Nordlonds from Winter Fae in the The Veiddarlond (the Hunted Lands)). Undead, fae, savage dragonkin and their allies, cultist, demons, giants, dragons, and even the Gods are likely to make an appearance. The current PCs include: Kato, a Greater Dragon Blooded Holy Warrior of the Goddess of Death, and is on a vision quest from the Goddess of Death, to prevent the rise of an evil undead force that will threaten the Norðlonds. Knut, a Björnhjarta (Bear-Folk) Wrestler, seeking adventure and his fortune in the Norðlonds. Backtooth, an Eðlufólk (Lizardfman) Scout from the Grey Marshes, an exile from his tribe, seeking his seeking adventure and his fortune in the Norðlonds, and maybe some revenge on his tribe. Andwise Neuberry, a Halfling Swashbuckler from the kingdom of Brousha to the south, possibly on the run from one of “The Families”, but definetly seeking adventure and his fortune in the Norðlonds. Guides for building your character are available.