“The world does not care if you survive. The question is what remains of you when it is finished.”

Greetings Travelers,

I am looking for a small group of players interested in a long-term, roleplay-first, play-by-post D&D 5e grimdark fantasy campaign.

If you are looking for a heroic dungeon crawl where the party always wins, evil is clearly defined, and the world bends around your character’s importance, this will likely not be the game for you.

This is a campaign about desperate people surviving in a cruel world filled with war, hunger, corruption, monsters, faith, betrayal, disease, exploitation, and horrors that do not always grant the mercy of death.

Think Berserk, Goblin Slayer, Darkest Dungeon, Fear & Hunger, and grounded medieval horror fantasy.

The Setting

The campaign takes place in a harsh fantasy world where civilization survives by inches, not miles. 

Kingdoms rot from within, noble houses sell their honor for power, and churches preach salvation while hiding graves beneath their floors; villages simply vanish from maps; monsters stalk the roads; and Mercenary companies, cults, bandits, corrupt lords, and worse prey upon those too weak to resist.

Magic exists, but it is not clean or safe. Divine power may answer prayers, but gods are distant, silent, or cruel. Ancient ruins promise treasure, but they also carry curses, madness, and truths mortals were never meant to know.

From afar, the world may still look beautiful: candlelit cathedrals, ancient castles, misty forests, harvest festivals, noble courts, and songs of heroes long dead.

Then you step off the main road and see the truth.

• Someone’s child was taken last night.
• Someone’s village paid tribute to monsters to survive winter.
• Someone sold their soul for food.
• Someone came back from the woods changed.
• Someone begged for death and was denied it.

That is the world I want to explore: beauty, horror, hope, despair, faith, corruption, and the people caught somewhere in between.

The Story

This is not a campaign about saving the world; this world may already be too broken for that.

This is a campaign about surviving it, changing within it, and deciding what lines your character will cross before the end.

Your characters are not legendary heroes at the beginning. They are people with wounds, debts, fears, desires, sins, loyalties, and reasons to keep going.

You might be:

• A disgraced knight trying to reclaim honor.
• A peasant who survived something no one believes.
• A hedge mage hiding from the church.
• A sellsword drowning guilt in coin and blood.
• A runaway noble hunted by their own family.
• A priest whose faith is cracking.
• A survivor of a massacre who wants revenge.
• A thief trying to buy freedom.
• A monster hunter who fears becoming worse than the things they kill.

Everyone starts somewhere, and in this campaign, that “somewhere” is not glory. But rather it is mud, hunger, fear, debt, grief, and desperation.

Before the party fully comes together, we will spend time grounding each character in the world: their life, relationships, fears, flaws, obligations, and reasons to continue. The group will then be brought together through circumstances that feel natural rather than forced.

You may play multiple characters over the course of the campaign due to death, retirement, corruption, capture, hiatus, or story reasons, but you may only actively play up to two characters at any given time.

What I’m Looking For

More than anything, I want players who enjoy becoming their characters.

I want people who love conversations as much as combat. Players who message each other after a battle because their characters need to talk. Players who build relationships, rivalries, romances, grudges, loyalties, fears, and complicated histories without waiting for the GM to hand them everything.

Some of the best roleplay does not happen during combat.

• It happens around a dying campfire after a terrible victory.
• It happens when the cleric admits their prayers feel empty.
• It happens when the fighter cannot sleep after what they did.
• It happens when the rogue finally tells someone the truth.
• It happens when the party argues over whether mercy was weakness.
• It happens when someone realizes that survival costs them something they cannot get back.

Those are the moments I am here for.

Morality

I do not expect your characters to be heroes.

In fact, I would rather they were not clean, perfect, or untouched by the world.

This setting produces survivors, zealots, cowards, martyrs, killers, liars, saints, monsters, and people who are not sure which one they are becoming.

Your character may do terrible things. They may lie, steal, kill, betray, sacrifice, abandon, or compromise their morals to survive.

What matters is that those choices feel earned.

I am not interested in random murder, pointless cruelty, or “that’s what my character would do” as an excuse to derail the game or make things miserable for other players.

If your character crosses a line, there should be a reason behind it.

Their choices should come from who they are, what they have endured, what they fear, what they love, and what they are trying to protect or achieve.

In this campaign, your choices matter.

• Your reputation matters.
• Your relationships matter.
• Your faith matters.
• Your sanity matters.
• Your soul matters.

Mature Themes, ERP, and NSFW Content

This is an 18+ campaign.

This world contains many of the darkest elements of humanity and fantasy horror.

The campaign may include violence, gore, torture, body horror, psychological horror, slavery, exploitation, abuse, corruption, religious extremism, war crimes, starvation, disease, madness, sexual themes, romance, ERP, and consequences worse than death.

These themes are not included for shock value or smut for the sake of smut.

They exist because this is a grimdark world where evil is ugly, suffering has weight, and survival can leave scars deeper than death.

ERP exists in the campaign, but it is optional and must be consensual between all involved players. Explicit ERP will be handled in private channels only. Public channels will use implication, aftermath, emotional framing, or fade-to-black where appropriate.

This is not meant to blur player and character boundaries. I do expect applicants to be comfortable with their characters experiencing horrifying encounters that one should never wish upon another, whether fade-to-black or roleplayed by player consent. 

This is not a space to harass players, pressure people, or use “in character” behavior as an excuse for out-of-character misconduct. Anyone who does so will be removed.

This is intended to be a safe space to explore more mature and darker elements of life that we wouldn’t wish to encounter in real life and how one survives and overcomes them. It is not meant to encourage, promote, or glorify behaviors taken by the creatures of the world. 

There will be mechanics provided within the form that will cover over all of the core mechanics expanded upon for this section of play, I have converted some of it into text cause the original PDF is very “suggestive art” heavy and VERY NSFW. 

Before joining, all applicants will complete a form covering expectations, boundaries, content comfort, Lines & Veils, NSFW preferences, and safety tools. This campaign will not have many hard restrictions by default, so it is important that players understand what kind of game they are applying for before joining.

Rules

We will be using D&D 5e 2014 and 2024, with house rules designed to support a slower, grittier, more grounded fantasy experience.

This will not feel like a standard heroic fantasy campaign.

The ruleset will include adjustments for things such as:

• Gritty rests.
• Downtime progression.
• Lingering consequences.
• Sanity and corruption.
• Injuries and recovery.
• Travel and survival.
• Relationship development.
• Reputation.
• Slower pacing.
• ERP Mechanics
• More grounded character growth.

The goal is not to make the game miserable or punish players for existing but rather they exist to make the world feel dangerous, natural, and consequential.

Combat should feel like something characters survive, not something they casually farm for experience.

Downtime matters. Travel matters. Rest matters. Wounds matter. Food, coin, shelter, allies, reputation, and trust all matter.

Your character will grow through more than leveling. They may train, study, heal, break, recover, build bonds, lose faith, find purpose, or become something they never expected.

Play-by-Post

This is an asynchronous play-by-post campaign.

I work full-time, so there will be times when I cannot immediately respond as GM.

That does not mean the roleplay stops.

One of my biggest philosophies with PbP is that idle typing is the death of a campaign.

If the party is waiting on combat, travel, or a GM post, characters can still speak by the fire, tend wounds, pray, argue, write letters, train, confess fears, seek comfort, share food, or sit in silence after something terrible happened.

I want the world to feel alive throughout the week, not only when I post.

The players should create stories together just as often as I create stories for them.

Who This Game Is For

You will probably enjoy this campaign if you:

• Love deep character roleplay.
• Enjoy collaborative storytelling more than “winning.”
• Want your backstory to matter.
• Enjoy slow-burn character development.
• Like moral ambiguity and meaningful consequences.
• Enjoy setbacks as much as victories.
• Can handle uncomfortable themes maturely.
• Want relationships with the party to matter.
• Enjoy grounded fantasy horror.
• Are comfortable with adult themes being discussed.
• Want downtime, travel, wounds, fear, and survival to matter.
• Are interested in exploring what a character becomes under pressure.

This is not a power fantasy.

This is not a game where the party becomes untouchable legends overnight.

This is not a campaign where the world exists to praise your character.

But if you want to spend months telling the story of broken, desperate, flawed people trying to survive a world that devours the weak…

I would love to hear from you.

Here is the forum link. Please set aside time to read through it carefully. I went in-depth on expectations and alignment intentionally, because this kind of campaign requires everyone to understand what they are agreeing to before play begins: https://forms.gle/NvSzkfZ1Y5jNFjR39

>"The city always wins. The question isn't whether you'll survive forever... It's what you'll become before it finally gets you."

Hey chooms,

I'm looking for a small group of players who really want to sink their teeth into Cyberpunk RED as a long-term, roleplay-first play-by-post campaign. If you're looking for a tactical dungeon crawl with occasional roleplay, this probably isn't going to be the game for you.

I want to tell stories about people at the absolute bottom of society trying to claw their way up in a city that seems determined to drag them back down.

The Setting

The campaign takes place in Night City, 2045, shortly after the Fourth Corporate War. The war is over, and no one truly won, but a power vacuum has emerged to steer within the streets of Night City in the aftermath of its wake. 

The city is rebuilding, but the cracks are impossible to ignore. Entire districts are still ruins. Combat Zones swallow neighborhoods whole. Corporations are returning to reclaim power while gangs fight over the scraps left behind. Everyone is trying to make a name for themselves because, for the first time in years, there are opportunities to be found... if you're willing to pay the price that is…

While Night City is beautiful from a distance, with neon signs lighting up the skyline and the mighty corpo towers promise a better tomorrow. Every advertisement tells you that success is just one purchase away.

Then… you truly walk down one of Night City’s streets and witness the reality of this nightmare city: Someone's apartment was condemned yesterday, Someone disappeared last night, and their family is in mourning, and Someone sold a piece of themselves just to make rent. 

That's the version of Night City I want to explore. With all its glamour, grime, hope, despair, and the people caught somewhere in between.

The Story

This isn't a campaign about saving the world, as this world's already far too broken; rather, it's about how one actually survives it.

Your characters aren't legendary mercenaries... at least not yet. They're the Solo buried under debt to the wrong people. Joytoy is trying to buy back its freedom. The Medtech who can't afford treatment for someone they love. The addict is trying to stay clean. The gang member is trying to leave that life behind. The person is living out of a car because it's safer than sleeping in their apartment.

Everyone starts somewhere, and in this campaign, that "somewhere" is rock bottom. The question isn't whether you'll climb. The question is what you'll sacrifice to get there.

We will start by working on individual characters getting into the world, their life, their relationships, and more, before they meet the other party members. They will then get exposure in a way that feels natural about why the party has to work together, and go from there. You may play multiple characters throughout the story, whether they are dead/temporary hiatus/retired, but you may only play up to two characters at any given time. This allows you to switch up your approach within the world as well as gives the party the ability to fill out certain roles for the group when the circumstances are right and leaves room for natural downtime for the other character between gigs.

What I'm Looking For

More than anything else, I'm looking for people who enjoy becoming their characters.

I want players who love conversations just as much as combat. Players who message each other after a mission because their characters need to talk. Players who create relationships, rivalries, romances, grudges, friendships, and history without waiting for me to hand it to them. Some of the best moments in roleplaying don't happen during a firefight. They can happen at 2 AM over noodles after the job went sideways, or when your Solo quietly admits they're terrified, the Tech finally loses their temper, or when your crew argues over whether killing someone was actually justified.

Those moments are what I'm here for.

Morality

I don't expect your characters to be heroes, and honestly, I'd rather they weren't.

Night City doesn't produce many good people. It produces survivors and monsters:
People who lie, People who steal, People who kill, People who convince themselves they had no other choice.
Maybe your character is already a monster, or maybe they're becoming one, or maybe they're desperately fighting to stay human.

What matters to me is that everything they do feels earned:

I'm not interested in random murder, pointless cruelty, or "that's what my character would do" as an excuse for chaotic or immoral behavior. If your character crosses a line, I want there to be a reason behind it. Every terrible decision should come from who they are, what they've lived through, and what they're trying to protect or achieve.

Because in this campaign, your choices matter: your reputation matters, your relationships matter, your humanity matters.

Mature Themes (18+) and NSFW

Cyberpunk isn't a comfortable setting, and I don't intend to pretend it is:

This campaign will include mature themes such as violence, gore, poverty, addiction, corruption, sexuality, romance, exploitation, abuse, psychological horror, and other dark subject matter that naturally fit the setting.

These topics exist to tell honest stories about Night City, not to glorify or fetishize them.

Before anyone joins, everyone will fill out the form covering expectations, boundaries, Lines & Veils, and safety tools so everyone knows exactly what kind of game they're joining.

We will touch base on NSFW subjects; comfort levels are noted. That being said, ERP is entirely optional and offered in private channels for PC to PC, NPC to PC, etc. Any public channel interaction would not be direct or explicit ERP, but rather a Fade to black after preestablished interaction occurs, and then come back for the post scene, and then continue. The Forum will explain more. 

Note: This is not intended to simply get your rocks off, it is not meant to blur past character to character, if you push it towards the player to player or harass another player, you will be removed. This is meant to be a disconnect from player to character and let the character interact with their world as they desire to do so.

Rules

We'll be using Cyberpunk RED with nearly every official rulebook and DLC available, with the exception of the Cyberpunk Edgerunners Mission Kit (CEMK).

The game also includes a number of revised rules, quality-of-life improvements, expanded Humanity and relationship mechanics, and a variety of house rules that I've developed over time. If you've played RED before, it'll still feel like RED, but don't expect a completely vanilla experience. The additional ruleset will be available within the forum as a note. 

The goal isn't to reinvent the game, but rather it's to smooth out rough edges and make certain elements more impactful and swifter while supporting deeper character progression and storytelling.

Play-by-Post

This is an asynchronous play-by-post campaign.

I work full-time, so there will naturally be times when I can't immediately respond as GM.

That doesn't mean the roleplay stops.

One of my biggest philosophies with PbP is that idle typing is the death of a campaign.

If combat is waiting on anyone, there's nothing stopping two characters from roleplaying breakfast before the mission, grabbing drinks after the firefight, making a phone call to a family member, shopping for gear, or just sitting on a rooftop talking about life.

I want Night City to feel alive all week, not just when I'm posting. The players should be creating stories together just as often as I create stories for them.

Who This Game Is For

You'll probably enjoy this campaign if you:

• Love deep character roleplay.
• Enjoy collaborative storytelling more than "winning."
• Want your backstory to matter.
• Like slow-burn character development.
• Enjoy moral ambiguity and meaningful consequences.
• Enjoy the setbacks as much as the wins
• Adapt to pressures and situations that may be uncomfortable
• Want to build relationships with the rest of the crew.
• Comfortable with all types of sexuality discussed 
• Are excited to help create a living, breathing version of Night City.

If you're looking for a power fantasy where you mow through enemies and become the biggest legend in the city, this probably isn't your game.

But if you want to spend months telling the story of broken people trying to survive, chasing dreams in a city that eats dreams for breakfast...

I'd love to hear from you.

Here is the Forum Link, please prepare some time to work through this cause I wanted to be through for expectations and alignment up-front so I went in-depth on this with intention: https://forms.gle/xcBH9mwM8sea9kaU8