We continue our fantasy series with James taking the DM’s chair. This time, we look at one approach to homebrewing: preserving the conventions that give a setting its identity while modifying systems to lean further into them.
Our actual play takes place in the Nameless Lands, a new Domain of Dread pulled from a world not altogether unlike our own. The Mists blur its borders, time has become meaningless, and names and histories are slowly wearing away. Two cursed wanderers are on their way back to the walled town of Karsova with a severed head in their saddlebag as proof that they completed their job.
At the center of the Nameless Lands is Agrammon, the Undying One, a nascent Darklord. Orphaned by raiders, he survived through the criminal underworld and eventually grew wealthy through debts and imperial administration. His obsession with finding immortality through genuine magic led him to other worlds, and the rites that transformed him.
The setting draws loosely on Ottoman administrative history, Silk Road funerary traditions, Scythian burial practices, and Balkan revenant folklore. James developed it as a possible campaign framework for roughly levels 6–12, along with custom characters and character classes for the session.
As usual with our actual plays, we follow the session with a discussion of what happened at the table.
Topics Discussed
00:00:33 — What have we been playing lately? Witchlight, Van Richten’s, Tasha’s, and getting D&D books from libraries instead of buying them.
00:06:57 — Ravenloft roots and the “evil character”: Older Ravenloft design assumptions, the Satanic Panic, and what happened when a character turned evil.
00:11:38 — Why GMs cause problems for PCs: Why cursed items, complications, and resistance can make better stories than straightforward rewards.
00:15:52 — Homebrew, balance, and encounter math: How custom items and spells interact with 5e’s balance assumptions and the difference between mechanical imbalance and spotlight problems.
00:21:41 — The homebrew pregens: Drahamir the werebear druid, Ruhan the dhampir stalker, and the costs built into their abilities.
00:32:33 — Rite of the Undying: The Nameless Lands: Introducing the Domain of Dread, Karsova, Voivode Radovan, and the cult of the Undying One.
00:41:30 — Gnoll ambush on the caravan road: The first fight puts the custom characters and homebrew mechanics into action.
01:20:17 — The blight at Sudavac: A spreading sickness turns the innkeeper’s son undead.
01:25:13 — Safia’s offer for the head: A mysterious old woman offers to trade for the cult leader’s severed head.
01:43:32 — Karsova, Radovan, and the head that won’t burn: The pair completes their mission, only to discover that the severed head refuses to burn.
01:47:26 — The GM pulls back the curtain: James explains the obsidian spear, the undead-raising head, and a Domain of Dread still in the process of forming.
01:55:17 — One-shots still need a want: Why pregenerated characters need motivations, and how games can give amnesiac characters drives through play.
02:00:21 — Codified magic stops being mysterious: How explicit spell mechanics can strip away mystery, and how DCC and Shadowdark approach magic differently.
02:05:32 — Mystery for the GM and emergent play: How much of a game world should remain unknown even to the person running it?
02:19:38 — Starting at level six and tiers of play: How starting above low level changes character play and what levels actually represent.
02:26:13 — Comparing three approaches to D&D: Lessons from running a published module, the 2024 rules, and full homebrew, plus ways to abstract secondary combats.
For more on the discussion of System and Style check out our written articles and Scott’s additional thoughts on specific systems on our YouTube channel.
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