0. Introduction

I ran this campaign back in 2012, in my first year of university, with my dorm friends. At the time, I had never played Dungeons & Dragons before, but I really wanted to. And, just like how it is much easier for a healer to find groups in World of Warcraft, so it is for Dungeon Masters and D&D. Everybody wants to play, but so few actually want to DM.

Frankly, I think I made the right call.

A few notes about this campaign. First, it’s extremely railroading. At the time, I wanted to tell a story to my friends who happened to play the characters in my world. There wasn’t a whole lot of freedom allowed, because I had an agenda. Because we were all newbies at the time, I don’t think this was a bad thing. That being said, I no longer think this is the most fun play to design TTRPG sessions. The DM should come equipped with a plethora of options for the players to choose from, but these should still be open-ended suggestions. These games are much more fun as sandboxes, where storytelling happens collectively and narratives emerge spontaneously.

Second, back in 2012, I had just moved to Canada from Turkey. My command over the English language wasn’t as good as it is today. But that’s also precisely why I’m leaving these texts generally unedited. I have removed some more embarrassing mistakes, but I will keep the awkward wording that’s ever-present. I think it’s cool to see how I starteed.

Third, these are my notes, right? I didn’t necessarily intend others to be able to run this campaign when I was making it. So the “instructions,” as it were, aren’t the clearest. That being said, isn’t that part of the fun? Meticulously crafting each step would take away the fun from the DM who wanted to run this campaign. You’re meant to add your own twist to it, change the lore if you want. Change anything! I had a story in my head and these notes helped me tell it.

Even then, the story doesn’t quite end. I had plans for my NPCs. Going back in time is very tropey, but my intention was to have it serve an expository purpose. It was the origin story of the Mistress—a tragic one. I like the idea of Sergeant Unintelligible, whose face is unrecognizable mainly because Lianthe has suppressed the memory. I still think that’s cool.

The notes make it seem much shorter than it actually was, but I’m almost certain this campaign lasted around 6 months. I hope you enjoy reading it.