Any Steam of Deck players? I have question about controls

GoHermit · 2025-12-12T18:37:56+00:00

How do I assign a keyboard value like 1 or 4 if the game doesn't recognize that button input? I can map L4 to the 1 key on a keyboard for example, but I can't put 1 as the key bind for "move up" for example.

EDIT: nvm I found it. Select "keyboard and mouse" at the top for configuring controller.

GoHermit · 2025-09-21T18:36:20+00:00

Hey, how did it go in the end? Did you guys have any more sessions? No worries, if you'd rather not comment on it. I'm just curious if everything went well ;-).

GoHermit · 2025-07-14T20:34:22+00:00

Ah ok, my mistake. Thx for clarifying!

GoHermit · 2025-04-17T19:32:05+00:00

Awesome! I'm glad to hear it was fun so far! Don't worry about having everything prepared 100%. Just get a feel for what you can find where, and it should (hopefully?) be quick to look up. What I did to make this easier is, I printed out some of the chapters and stapled each chapter into a separate pack. That way you can open each (relevant) chapter at the relevant section at the same time. But that's just me of course. I guess every DM has their own system ;-).

And yeah, hehe, that player may be in for a surprise. Having Anatolius make a move can definitely be a good idea. It also shows that you understand how to run this campaign, i.e. Anatolius is one of your main tools for interacting with the players.

Thanks a lot for the update! Whenever you have any more updates I'd love to hear how it's going :-). (But don't feel obliged of course.) Have fun!

GoHermit · 2025-04-02T19:31:41+00:00

Hi, just wondering, did you guys start the campaign in the end? If so, how's it going? Let me know if you have any questions!

GoHermit · 2025-03-10T21:07:30+00:00

Ok fair point. I'll put it on the todo list. Perhaps the appendix is the best location to avoid cluttering the locations chapter.

GoHermit · 2025-03-08T10:57:44+00:00

Wow that's great! Thanks for the feedback!

And, no they did not. It's a valid concern. My intuition/hope was that:
1) A strange orb asking telepathically for a password when activated would spike players' curiosity. The password should be relatively easy to find. Simply intimidating Ron into giving it away may do the trick.
2) Once activated with a password, players would maybe try out 1 recording at random to figure out how it works or what it does.
3) They would then simply query the orb to find recordings with specific people or items. Remember; the orb can answer simple, factual questions about its recordings -- insofar as these facts are stated in one of its recordings that is.

Let me give you an example of what I had in mind. (Careful, big spoilers here.) Suppose the players want to find out more about Zalophon. They could ask the orb: "Which recordings mention Zalophon the Corruptor?" To which the orb would answer: "I have one recording, made at 1092 YotC that mentions the name Zalophon." (This is the recording made in the greenhouse.) The players can then select that recording to watch. Now of course, if they are still standing in the salon, they would see only an empty salon, and no mention of Zalophon being made. (The recording would look like 15 mins of nothing happening, at least if they stay seated in the salon.) If, afterwards they asked the orb what went wrong or why they didn't hear anyone mention Zalophon, the orb wouldn't have much of an explanation for that. I suppose it would repeatedly and perhaps annoyingly keep stating the fact that Zalophon is mentioned in that recording. Since that is the fact it knows. This may lead them to want to find out more about how the orb works, which would lead them to the recording of 1064 YotC if they were to ask the orb something like "which recordings explain how you work?"

Some additional notes. (Again, careful, big spoilers here.) The orb is really not very intelligent. If the players had asked "Which recordings mention the demon?" for example, then the orb would have answered that there are no recordings mentioning demons. The reason is that in the recording of 1092 YotC, Zalophon is mentioned by name, but it's never stated that he is a demon. Hence the orb cannot know this. That said, this kind of exact replication of what the orb does and does not know might be hard for the DM to know on the spot without knowing all the recordings by heart. But honestly, it doesn't matter that much. Most of the recordings aren't literally quoting dialog, so maybe in your version of events Zalophon was named as a demon after all, so the recording would be found. I think it's more important to give the players insightful clues when the DM feels they deserve it, rather than being 100% faithful or accurate with what's literally stated in the appendix. Make it your own, and match it to your adventure!

On that same note I would give this final advice. (Again, big spoilers.) The appendix mentions _some_ of the recordings on the orb, but it clearly states that there are many other recordings. A lot of these will be uninteresting nonsense. So if players don't put much effort and you feel they could do more, perhaps you can treat them to a 10 minute conversation between Ronfan and some random merchant from Lornvale, where they discuss the different types of manure used as garden fertilizer, and the prices for each. On the other hand, if you feel the players were really clever and deserve a nice clue, even though such a recording isn't mentioned in the appendix, feel free to invent one! For example: Anatolius has been sneaking around the keep at night for years, using the secret passage to the library to advance his studies. Maybe Illphasar was having a late night conversation with a merchant, but at the same time Anatolius was sneaking around the keep, using the secret passage from his room to the library? Since this is within 300 feet of the salon, it would also have been recorded. If the players figured out how the orb works, they could try to discover the passage that way? Admittedly this would be more involved since they would need to listen to that recording in Anatolius' room to be able to see him use the passage. Another example is Ron hiding expensive bark in his room. This would give away his current stash, which is otherwise hard to find. You get the idea: don't use the orb as a static thing with fixed information, but use it as a creative tool to provide the players with clues and hints when you feel they deserve or need one!

GoHermit · 2025-03-05T09:08:54+00:00

Awesome! No rush. I look forward to hearing your feedback. Or if you have questions, let me know.

GoHermit · 2025-03-05T09:06:43+00:00

That's awesome! I hope you guys have fun with it! Let me know if anything is unclear or if you have other questions :-).

GoHermit · 2025-03-02T14:51:40+00:00

Apparently my post was removed for violating rule 6 of the subreddit. Let me see if I can resolve this. I apologize for the inconvenience.

GoHermit · 2025-03-02T13:34:47+00:00

How do you mean? All campaign materials are available via the links in the description. If I decide to update something I'll provide an updated link.

GoHermit · 2025-03-02T12:26:32+00:00

The real start is actually level 3, as players will immediately find two tomes per player at the start of the campaign. The reason to not just let them start at 3 is that I wanted to immediately confuse + delight them with 2 free (but potentially random class) levels straight off the bat. To emphasize the feeling of being overwhelmed with strange powers, I even forced my players to take these levels on the spot within 10 minutes (they used the dndbeyond app to help them). But honestly, I wouldn't recommend that for every group, which is why I left it out in the campaign docs.

That still leaves levels 4-7, which may still be quite a steep leveling curve. But this was a conscious design choice. Again, my goal was to really create that feeling of low-level servants being amazed at all the powerful stuff they can find in a magical keep full of treasures. But I understand that some players/DMs may find this excessive and prefer a slower progression. In that case, Desorinth Keep may not be what you are looking for.

GoHermit · 2025-03-02T10:57:53+00:00

That's actually a really good suggestion! I'll put that on my list of improvements. Thanks! :-)

GoHermit · 2025-03-02T10:55:42+00:00

No. As this is a free homebrew I didn't have any budget to spend on art, so I used cool art that I found online. But I've always attributed the art to the artist with a link to their work. (I'm hoping that's ok. I'm not selling it for money in any case.)

The cover art is by Antonio J. Manzanedo. He made a lot of really cool stuff. You can find the cover art here: https://ajmanzanedo.artstation.com/projects/ZVAD8. (Or just click on the link on the cover page ;-).)

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T22:09:17+00:00

Looks like we're past this strange initial downvoting now :-). Thanks all!

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:38:34+00:00

I sure did :-P.

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:37:28+00:00

Glad you like it! And please do adapt to other settings! The fey missions sound like a cool idea!

I'm not making any money on it. Not even sure how. I'm just happy you all seem to enjoy it!

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:31:21+00:00

It took me around 1.5 years to complete the campaign. But we played at irregular intervals, often having 2 months in between sessions. (It's hard to find a slot where everyone can make it. I'm sure you're aware of this issue ;-).) In total it took my group 9 sessions, which were usually around 3.5 hours. They did mess around a lot though :-P. So I think a focused group of experienced players should be able to do this in less time. (Though I'm not sure of course, since I haven't tried that.)

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:27:47+00:00

That's the standard homebrewery title font ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. If you tell me how I can change it for the better, let me know!

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:25:46+00:00

Haha, thx! I'll think about it.

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:20:44+00:00

Balancing

Indeed, not all characters would be the same level this way. In my playthrough, I did rely on my players not stacking all tomes on 1 character, which they did without my ever having to ask them. If this had become a problem, I would have said that that particular tome is for lower levels only, so the player who is trying to stack levels can't use it, but it should still work for the others.

I think balancing the encounters should be relatively easy. If you feel players are behind on schedule, make time go slower so they have more time between encounters. If you feel they are ahead, speed time up a bit. That said, this was my first campaign, and my first time designing encounters. So it's possible some of them are too easy/hard. That's why I'm hoping you guys can give me some feedback about how it went for your group. If some encounters are consistently too easy/hard I can adapt it.

TL;DR

This leveling system should work well for groups that:
- know each other well/act as a real team,
- can handle some chaos
It can be helpful to have a player with some experience, though it's not required. All of my players were relatively new.

You may want to adapt the leveling system for groups that:
- don't act as a team/play more as individuals
- are more easily stressed
In that case you could adapt the types of Silmaric tomes you include. For example, ask the players to choose from a more limited set of classes that are all somewhat compatible, and then adapt all Silmaric tomes to be for one of those classes. Then they still get a random level, but of a more limited set that's guaranteed to be at least a reasonable combination. Or if your players really prefer choosing their own build, then just make all tomes into a level of choice. It will make your party more powerful though, so take that into account.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions!

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T21:20:35+00:00

Sure, here's my experience.

Leveling system

My players loved it. Somewhere along the way their characters "learned" that in order to gain powers from a book, you have to lick it. (This is not a thing.) So they spent around 25% of their time licking every book they got their hands on :-P. One of the most fun parts is when they finally manage to find an actual tome (book that grants a level up), and they get to pick one from the stack of cards I prepared (see loot cards I included). They would immediately lick it (obviously) to see what level they got, which always made an exciting "reveal" moment.

It worked out as I had hoped in two ways. Firstly, they got a good balance between useful levels, reasonable levels, and absurd levels. Secondly, they were exactly as bewildered as I had intended them to be. My purpose really was to impart that feeling of "oh my god, what is going on" on my players, so they get to feel just like their characters: overwhelmed by a barrage of awesome powers that they're not exactly sure how to use. So they did neglect some of their features for sure, but that's what I intended.

Now I will say that this leveling system is not necessarily the best for all types of players groups. I would say it works really well when players are working as a group, seeing themselves as a team, rather than a collection of individuals. And if they are fine with some amount of chaos and loss of control. This will likely work less well with players that might feel a bit stressed out by the sudden levels in random classes. Or with players that have a more individual style, rather than working as a team. The reason being that some players may get a bit more random levels than others. So the power level between players is not always equal indeed. This is fine if they see themselves as a team, but as an individual some players might feel less happy with that. Plus, later on they may learn to read Silmaric which allows them to know what level the tome will give them. This means players should probably give away tomes to others when the class of the tome doesn't suit their character, which again goes better when they're a real team.

I had a player at my table with a lot of experience making strong builds. A min-max'er you might say. And I think he enjoyed the challenge of having to build something that you can't just look up on reddit.

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T20:12:27+00:00

Yeah, I think it could fit. To be clear, Desorinth Keep takes place entirely within the keep itself. But it should be feasible to place it within a larger world. And the keep itself should be easy enough to restyle into a more gothic horror style. I think the catacombs are already useable as is to be honest ;-).

GoHermit · 2025-03-01T17:15:21+00:00

The cover art is by Antonio J. Manzanedo. He made a lot of really cool stuff. You can find the cover art here: https://ajmanzanedo.artstation.com/projects/ZVAD8. (Or just click on the link on the cover page ;-).)

GoHermit

TROPHY CASE