IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS IS NOT A STANDARD D&D GAME!
Torches in the Dark is a heavily modified version of the world’s most popular role-playing game. Ohr is dying a slow death, nights grow longer and colder and the things from beyond the veil are slowly clawing their way into the Waking World. The gods who once watched over Ohr have left and now only ashen skies, freezing nights, and the blood-curdling screams of the dead and the dying are here to remind us of our ancestor’s failure and hubris. Players must thrive in the shadow of the remnants of the God-binder Empire. Cities are dens of evil, greed, and excess and the wilds are untamed and extremely dangerous. Abandoned ruins, forgotten strongholds of alien creation, deadly temples filled with cultists of dark gods best left buried, degenerate and cannibalistic tribes of men, and an underbelly ruled by the dead are all that await those fool-hardy enough to adventure out into the world. Ohr is unforgiving and relentless. You will have to rely on more than a strong sword arm and a silver tongue to survive. Every single advantage is worth having when you set out to find the forgotten places. Most of you will die terrible deaths, forgotten and alone. Only a few of you brave souls will ever claw your way to the top. Those that do will be lucky, but eventually even the greatest of us fall, and in Ohr that is a certainty.
- Characters can and will die, this is not an easy game. To survive you will have to work with others and think about your actions. Consider all options, run if you have to. Live to fight another day.
- Combat is extremely deadly with level one characters potentially dying outright under specific circumstances. Traps, critical hits, or just being purely unlucky can all potentially spell the end of a character.
- We have a unique list of races and classes all setting appropriate to our world. Classes are balanced around the idea of the maximum level being 10 with the first booklet detailing levels 1-4 or 'Tier 1' of play.
- Our game is a mixture of 1st and 5th editions of the world's most popular role-playing game.
- Skills are % based rather than having to roll a D20.
- Characters gain a flat rate of hit points every level based on their chosen class.
- Attributes, classes, and races are rolled randomly. You have a % based chance of being able to select a specific race or class. Some races and classes are limited to our patron members who support the server.
- All games on our server are free to play, but you can choose to support our server by becoming a patron or by donating your time to create unique content for the community.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS IS NOT A STANDARD 5E GAME!
The information on this page summarizes campaign information, expectations of the players, developing a back story and ultimately character creation itself. You should read through this page thoroughly before entering and asking questions on the Discord. If you are brand new to tabletop games, read through everything entirely and if after that time you’re unable to figure out how to make a character we can provide you support. Characters are determined ‘finished’ and play-ready once they have their associated back stories and other information completed. A Game Master will go through this before each session for the characters who have signed up to take part in a game. If your character is NOT finished, and you have signed up for a game, you will be asked to leave the game.
KEY DIFFERENCES:
IMPORTANT: If you have not read our 'Setting Information' page yet, you will want to go there first before ever deciding or trying to figure out how to create a character. You can find the link HERE.
KEY DIFFERENCES:
- Basic Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition lore DOES NOT APPLY TO OUR SETTING.
- We use custom races.
- We use spell points and a home-brewed magic system called 'Horror' that makes spell-casting more exciting and perilous for all involved.
- We use a custom background system using 'skill regions' that determine your starting skills and unique starting features that players can choose from.
- We have additional house rules to ensure that combat remains deadly, this is a setting built on the foundations of 5th Edition intermixed with OSR sensibilities.
- Health Points and AC are calculated differently in our setting. Armor also provides 'Armor Resistance' which soaks a flat amount of damage.
- You begin with far lower attribute scores than you would in a normal Dungeons & Dragons game. That's okay, the entire setting is "balanced" around that idea.
- We welcome new players, but this setting and game are not new player friendly. It's up to you to make the decision as to whether you'd like to join or not. Come die with us.
- Attributes have additional benefits and purposes in the game. There is no 'dump stat' in our setting. Initiative is influenced by Intelligence rather than Dexterity.
- Proficiency increases at a much slower rate. Characters begin with 1.
IMPORTANT: If you have not read our 'Setting Information' page yet, you will want to go there first before ever deciding or trying to figure out how to create a character. You can find the link HERE.
CREATE A CHARACTER SHEET ON ROLL20:
Create your character sheet with the command !charsheet in Roll20 chat. Change the name immediately. If you're not sure what your characters name is going to be, use the same name you have in discord.

Naming Conventions: [Lvl. 1] Character Name
- If we go through the sheets and your sheet doesn't fit the naming conventions exactly, we will delete that sheet immediately.
- Every player only gets ONE character sheet.
- If you die, REUSE that sheet. This is to cut down on sheet clutter because of the heavy player traffic.
- Use the command /talktomyself to make roll tests without spamming the chat.
- Type /talktomyself again to get out of it.
Creating Your Story is the first part of character creation. The importance of your character goes beyond basic attributes and what you're going to find on your character sheet. More than numbers. It's about the story and the world you're able to build through that characters actions.
Personality Traits: Write five key words that describe your characters likes, past accomplishments, things your character dislikes or fears, your character's self-attitude or mannerisms. Appearance: In one sentence, describe your most distinctive physical features. Jewelry, piercings, tattoos, unusual clothing, birthmarks, skin color, hair, or missing limbs are examples of what you could include. Flaws: In one sentence, describe your character's flaws. What vice, compulsion, fear, or weakness in particular keeps them up at night? What enrages them? What's the one person, concept, or event that they are terrified of? What are their vices? Interactions with Others: In one sentence, describe how your character interacts with others. A character's behavior can change depending on who he or she is interacting with. Are they argumentative, arrogant, friendly, honest, quiet, racist, suspicious? You can use up to three key words, which will stand out here and inform how you role-play your character for the length of the campaign. Useful Knowledge: In three words, list bits of knowledge you possess that might be of use to the other player characters. You might know something as banal as the best inn in town or as important as a clue needed to solve a murder. Bonds & Rivals: Create connections to people, places and events in the world. They tie you to things from your background. They might inspire you to heights of heroism, or lead you to act against your own best interests if they are threatened. They can work very much like ideals driving a character's motivations and goals. |
Call to Adventure: Why have you taken up the call of becoming an adventurer in a world where leaving the comfort or relative safety of your village or town there is a very real, very serious risk of death?
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Player Long-Term Goals:
- What do you (the player) want to do with the character after completing the initial game sessions in Ohr?
- What do you want character to be when he or she is 6th level?
- As a player, what are you trying to do in the world on a grand scale?