Player Handout
Introduction
The Crucible is a campaign setting that is very different from the usual story driven campaign. The idea behind Crucible is to allow players to gather together at public games or private games and run a "West Marches" style game without too much worry about players who have irregular schedules, and to try to make DM Prepping much lighter due to the nature of a public game.
The world itself is designed to distill the core fundamentals of D&D into a fun but challenging experience. That is why your character is here. They could have been from any campaign setting any world but has been brought to the Crucible to prove their worth and to become a champion of the Crucible or die trying. There will be death. The World of Crucible is here to test you as a player in every way.
What to expect from this campaign.
The first, and biggest thing to keep in mind here is this is a public game. While we try to provide a fun experience, this is meant to be a very casual game. We want you to feel comfortable dropping in and out as you wish, and not worry about missing a game. The intent of this game is to give people an option for play when a home game can't be found. If you want a rich plot that explores your character's backstory while building connection between characters in a party, you're looking for a home game. We do expect everyone to respect the other players and DM's including their unconventional builds and characters. The game is inevitably going to suffer a little in quality as we try to get everything going quickly, and the game is very work in progress.
Next this is not Forgotten Realms. This is Crucible, our own custom setting. There may be borrowed elements, and creatures, and there may be some alignments with the Forgotten Realms worlds, these should not be taken as a pattern. We have and are working hard to build this world as it's own thing, with new lore to learn, places to discover, and people to meet. We hope you find this world fun to explore, and encourage you to find your place in it.
Expect lot's of exploring and combat, with sections and events reserved for RP. If interplayer RP is wanted that will be player driven, between players, DM's will not enforce any RP as this is a casual public game meant for anyone to be comfortable joining. As a matter of fact, everything is player driven. You and your adventuring partners will choose your adventure during each session. Do you explore, or build, or go dungeon diving? That's up to you and your party, the DM's just run the game.
The Community Guidelines
- Respect your DM.
Remember that everyone running this game is volunteering their time, effort and patience for you. No one is paid to DM, or create content and their effort can not be overstated. Your DM's rulings are final and we trust their judgement. - Be kind to your fellow Players.
You are not the only player at the table, try to have patience for others or help them when they need it. We want to build a community, and that means getting along. If a player is uncomfortable with a play style or action, do not push them, accept them. - Learn the game.
You cannot help others unless you help yourself. We accept new players and want to be as helpful as possible, however it is still your responsibility to learn this game. If you need help the DMs have plenty of resources to guide you on your way. - Respect the community.
Part of keeping this game going is keeping the community strong. Each of you has an effect on this group as a whole. Help set up before the game, help tear down after the game, have good manners, have good hygiene (let's not become steriotypical cave nerds), all of these lead to the most enjoyable community events possible. - Be a part of your party.
Your character should not be trying to sew discord in your group, fun rivalries are fine, but remember that not everyone can perfectly remove themselves from their players. This game is a team effort. - Be attentive.
Just because it is not your turn does not mean you shouldn't be present. A large part of being in a party is knowing what they are doing. You cannot act in a fight or interact with a puzzle if you don't pay attention. - Know your character.
More than knowing the rules of the game, you should know how your character works, what their abilities are, what your spells are, and how all of those pieces work to the best of your ability. It is not the DM's job to know how your character works. There are too many people to keep track of who is playing what. - Be efficient.
This ties everything together. If you know the rules, know your character, and have been paying attention, you should be able to act quickly. This means that more game can be played and the game runs smoothly. - Remember where you are.
This is the public game, here for casual fun, and to fill the gaps between your other games. Find players for your home game here and make friends. Feel free to miss games for important events, and home games. We appreciate everyone who comes regularly but want no one to feel guilty for missing. - Have fun!
This is more important than winning D&D. It's important to remember this game is everyone's enjoyment.
What is a West Marches Style Campaign?
It is a distillation of Core D&D, you are placed in a single safe city that has no adventures within, at the bottom of a hex map and you must explore the world to find the adventure. There will be quests, dungeons, landmarks, and places scattered throughout the map for you to discover. At the end of the day you will come back to the full group, tell them what you found, and put it on a large physical map. Working together is paramount, and storytelling is encouraged. A core component of "West Marches" is traveling but it is also extremely dangerous as the monsters in the Crucible are here to prevent you from succeeding in your goals.
Heroic Adventurers
Crucible is here to test you. You’ve been brought, by the gods, to this world to be turned from a mere mortal into a true hero! The gods do not have time for a those of non-heroic temper. Keep this in mind as you venture the lands. Not only is your prowess in combat, and your ability to explore to be tested here, but also your overall character. Should you be out to immediately assault local guards, or cause rabble in the city, there is not a second thought to smite you as you stand. However, should you come across monstrous folk who are friendly, this is a grey area, who knows what their plans are, use your best judgement, even if sometimes that means fighting first and asking questions later. If the Gods wanted murderers and savages, they would simply have grabbed the monsters that inhabit the world. If they wanted unfeeling unbending beings, they’d have selected machines and constructs. You are special in this regard, show it to the gods, and your fellow heroes.
Interacting with the world.
The city you start in is called Sanctuary and the plane itself is called Crucible. You have a vague idea of who you were before you were brought to this world, but you are certain you are not from this world.
Sanctuary is a huge 24 mile wide city, with everything you need, including safety. It is protected by the gods who control the Crucible, and serviced by it's inhabitants. Cruicble has shops available for gear, services for your character (such as churches and guilds), and places to learn skills. More shops (such as magic item shops) become available as the heroes progress through the map. You can only remain in the city as long as the time you've earned, which is gained by exploring the world. Every (player) day, you will be pushed out into the world to earn your time in Sanctuary, this time is used to learn skills, build things, better your character, and survive.
To move through Crucible you will travel through hexes, each day in the Crucible gives you one downtime day to spend in Sanctuary on whatever you want. The adventure is in the Crucible, Sanctuary while large and perfect, does not have a thieves den, or basements of rats to clear.
In Sanctuary you can sell your unwanted goods by either going to a shop with a conversion altar. Conversion altars take items placed on them and turn them directly into half of the items shop value. Shops do the same, they take your money, and turn it directly into the item you want.
When introduced to the world you will learn of the Monoliths. Giant slabs that, once activated, grant you transport around Crucible. Jenkins, the gentlemanly butler god of guidance, will show you the first one after you sign the registry. Finding these is the key to crossing the Crucible. You will see Jenkins around all throughout the world, acting as a helpful steward to the players.
The goal of the campaign, for every character, is to make it to the other side of the Crucible and earn your way off the world. Very few make it this far, and some prefer to stay and explore for a while, but the only way out of this place is through the last portal. No one is sure what else happens at this point, but everyone expects something extraordinary.
Allowances and Homerules
Character Creation
The Guidelines for making a character is the following:
Allowed
- Start at level 1
- Use Point Buy with 27 points, or the Standard Array [8,10,12,13,14,15] from the book to generate your stats.
- Background for money, and Class for equipment.
- On level up take max health.
- Wizards Books:
- Player Handbook
- Dungeonmaster's Guide
- Volo's Guide to Monsters
- Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything,
- Kobold Press books (for 5e):
- Midgard Heroes Handbook
- All 5e Deep Magic Additions
- Unearthed Arcana: Revised Ranger
- Unearthed Arcana: Artificer
- Benjamin Huffman's Pugilist Class (DM's Guild)
- Sam Grierson's Cook Class (DM's Guild)
Not Allowed
- Roling stats, do not do this, period.
- Anything off of D&D Wiki. Seriously.
- The Lucky feat specifically.
- Monsterous races from Volo's (goblin, bugbear, etc). This does not disallow Kenku, Tabaxi, etc. from the races section of Volo's.
- Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above.
- Anything that does not fit the above criteria.
- Characters under 18 (human equivalent) years of age. Use your best judgement, but we want to avoid awkward situations.
Gameplay changes
Combat
- Flanking with an ally net's a +2 to an attack roll.
- When spellcasting we allow up to level 1 spells to be used as your "off spell" instead of cantrips. You can use a Level 1 or higher spell slot and a level 1 or lower spell slot per turn. Ex.: Guiding Bolt Level 1 into Spiritual Weapon would be allowed.
- Our basic healing potions heal max health.
- Creatures do not provide cover. ( c.d. )
- Druids use the printed average beast health when wildshaping.
Non-Combat
-
Items sell for half their total shop cost
Decisions resulting from a Crucible posted community poll are noted with a ( c.d. )
Suplimental Info
