Deeptown was aflame.

A large inferno raged, washing the town square in waves of sweltering heat and spitting sparks. The babbling surge of the River of Dreams was overwhelmed by the roaring of flames; heavy smoke stacks obscuring the light of the thin, silvery moon that stood vigil above the valleyed town. The windowed houses that ensconced the town square, built of oak and plaster, reflected back the orange illumination in haunting visage. Even the incessant warblings of hundreds of cicadas and katydids were drowned out by the sharp snap of stacked burning logs. There was only one sound that trumped all others.

Music.

Thin, bright trilling flutes. Heavy, rumbling drums. A singular lute whose owner took liberties in the finer points of playing. And, more than that, dozens of hesitant yet warm voices sang. They sang of life and love and hope. They sang of Tohlen and Sayn. They sang for the Festival of Plenty. Large stalls packed the corners of the space and, betwixt these stalls, a man from a group of pack-laden individuals cried out, "Trader, merchant, mender! Vendor, gossip, letter handler!" The merchants, misty-eyed and smiling wide, trudged down the road with graying travel packs nestled between peaked shoulders. "I've got gut and needle and knives and wines! Water for travel and open to haggle!" Each flat-footed step upon the ground lent itself to a grand chorus; a jumbled mess of metals, glassware, and other oddities heralding their arrival. Nervous lovers made wide, clumsy steps around one fire. In the center, a hurried stage had been constructed and was lit by the four bonfires. A troupe of performers acted out some bawdy play or another, making indecent jokes and enrapturing their growing audience.

At the height of this reverie, miles and miles away, a group of robed figures rode hard and fast with a purpose that would cause a few wandering paths and destinies to begin to intertwine…



Greetings one and all! I’m Bastas, a budding DM and long-time rper who has been developing ‘The Marked Lands’, my own DnD Setting, for the last couple of months. It’s my goal to find one or two eager peeps who share my love of meshing together systems-based roleplay with general story-based RP.

We’ll be able to discuss more of the setting, local area, and all other pertinent details if we do decide to kickstart things together. It’s important to note that the setting is still in construction and I intentionally left some gray space so that we can develop portions of the world together. I find that doing so leads to a higher buy-in from both sides and can, in most cases, improve things in ways that I possibly couldn’t think of.
Some requirements:

🠪 20+ is a must on my end. I’d like experienced and mature writers who don’t have any qualms telling a story that veers into mature topics at times.

🠪 Third person literacy. This one is pretty self explanatory. I write strictly in third person and put my focus into quality before quantity.

🠪 Has a focus on pushing the story alongside the DM. There should be enough meat in the post and enough new content to give adequate space to formulate a response for all parties involved. I cannot tell you how many times I've worked up a post only to be greeted by a word by word response of what occurred in my own post and nothing more, leaving a sour taste in my mouth with nothing for me to build off of or react to. I hold to the philosophy of a 'give and take' in roleplay. No one person should be in control of the conflict or cliffhangers or what have you, though I as DM will have a heavier hand on presenting information. Poison a drink, introduce new character traits, or even piss off a new antagonist. Anything works as long as it's communicated and brings something of value to the roleplay.

🠪 Comfortable with expanding the world and creating the plot together. Like I previously mentioned, the pieces of The Marked Lands are together, though the specifics are things that must be worked out. I don’t care much for plotting out every exhausting detail prior to writing. I would just enjoy someone who didn’t mind adding their own twists and ideas into the story.



If any of this has caught your interest, feel free to send me a message detailing any ideas you might have and a little about yourself! The world of The Marked Lands is one of my new favorite pet projects that I’ve worked on and I’m excited to get to explore and flesh it out more in depth to tell awesome stories in.