Bedlam in the Badlands

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Bedlam in the Badlands Quelmar’s eighth community campaign, based in central PA and beginning September 2025.

About

The year is 136 PR, and three major factions control the Western Badlands of Pteris: the Federation of Commerce and Trade, the Scrappers, and the Shepherds.

Federation: Run by the reclusive Hektor, this organization operates businesses of recreation, exploiting people's desires for gambling, fighting, and other vices. They focus on bringing life and culture to the Western Badlands. Their base of operations is located in the base of the eastern mountain range.

Scrappers: Led by the Cambion devil Raegina, this group of hell-touched, undead, and vagabonds gather scrap and junk including remnants of demonic weapons and vehicles to rebuild them into infernal arms and machines, preparing for a coming threat. Raegina was sent to Pteris to find the infernal weapons from the BR era left buried in the sands, and instead found raggedy junkers willing to do her work for her in exchange for knowledge of how to make bigger and better gadgets.

Shepherds: Ruled by Duke Solon and led by Vettik Herbert, the two sides of the "shepherds" work hard to maintain the life and wellbeing of those who live in the northern/central Badlands. They specialize in agriculture and overseas trade. They are located principally on the coast and in nomadic tribes all across the Badlands.

The three factions have banded together to face a threat that endangers them all -- escalating demon incursions into the Badlands -- and negotiations settled on the bugbear Sir Anthony, a paladin of Pelor, as the head of their shared base of operations, the Arboretum.

Player Characters

Here's everything you'll need to know when making your new player character for the campaign.

Submit your character information using the form below, and find play opportunities on Discord

See the House Rules, Code of Conduct, and Player Resources for more about participating in games, earning rewards, and interacting with other players.

Source Material

• Bedlam in the Badlands uses the D&D 5th Edition (2014) ruleset
• Only the latest versions of official WOTC sources are permitted. This excludes Unearthed Arcana material.
• Any official character Background is permitted, but a background that normally provides a feat does not grant your PC that feat.

Character Options

• Player characters begin at 3rd level with 900 XP and basic (level 1) starting equipment.
• No child characters or evil characters are permitted.
• Many of Quelmar's unique races are playable in this campaign, although any race that doesn't exist in 136 PR on Quelmar's timeline (e.g. warforged, automs, vanara) are unavailable, as are some others. Check with a Bedlam in the Badlands DM to confirm whether a particular Quelmar-specific race is permitted.

Stat Generation

• Rolls for stats MUST be verified by  either having a DM present or using the Discord #dice-rolling thread.
• Any stat below 8 becomes 8.
• If you don't like your rolls (or don't care to roll), you may use the Standard Array or Point Buy instead.     

List of current PCs

New PC submission form ⬅️⬅️

NPCs

The badlands of Pteris are home to a wide variety of individuals the players characters may encounter across their adventures, ranging from the kindest of allies to the most vile of villains. Those characters most significant to the story will be listed on the above page.

The Story So Far

The above page will keep you apprised of the adventures the PCs have had during the campaign.

Player Session Recaps

Players can write out their own record of each adventure at the above page.

Player Resources

See the above page for more about the campaign and to find links to forms for Downtimes, Wiki XP, etc.

House Rules

Adventuring and Combat

• Certain inventory items are not tracked, including mundane ammunition, as well as spell components with no listed cost.
• Carrying capacity limits aren't strictly followed, although players will be asked to keep their inventories realistic.
• Moving in any direction including diagonally costs 5 feet of movement.
• The "flanking" variant rule is in play, allowing creatures to gain advantage if they attack an enemy from two opposing sides.
• Taking a critical hit while making death saving throws causes 1 automatic failure, not the standard 2.
• Creatures of medium size or smaller do not provide half-cover against ranged attacks by default, although the standard rule for cover may be applied on a case-by-case basis.

Magic

• Casting a spell as a bonus action does not impose the standard restriction that any other spell cast that turn must be a cantrip.
• A character must have a spell scroll in hand to activate it. (This is a clarification.)
• Any PC can activate a spell scroll using this alternative method:
  • For their casting ability, the character can choose any class whose spell list includes the spell and use that class' spellcasting ability.
  • They must succeed on an Intelligence (Arcana) check, DC = 10 + Spell Level, or their attempt has no effect (and the scroll is not consumed.)

Miscellaneous

• An Inspiration point can be used to force a hostile creature to reroll an attack, saving throw, or ability check.
• After each session, the players can vote to give one player a role-playing award: an inspiration point to use in their next session.
• Player characters may take the following custom feat whenever they would normally gain a feat:

Hell-Touched: Your exposure to the Hells' power has changed you, granting you the following benefits.

• Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
• You learn the Pyrotechnics spell and and one 1st-level spell of your choice from the Evocation or Conjuration school of magic. [The "area of fire" needed for Pyrotechnics is Hellfire produced by your character casting it.] You can cast each of these spells without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can't cast that spell in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells' spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.

Code of Conduct

All participants (players, DMs, and organizers) are automatically expected to adhere to the following Code of Conduct, and consent to the use of the X-Card, when playing a Bedlam in the Badlands community table.

1. All community campaign participants are here to have fun and should feel safe and included at all times. Fun at others’ expense is no fun at all.  
2. Participants must conduct themselves in a manner that is conducive to the enjoyment and safety of others at the event. Bedlam in the Badlands is a public, community campaign open to all Pennsylvania players ages 18 and up. Please avoid excessively vulgar, sexual, or overly mature themes when requested.
3. Follow the DM’s lead, try to avoid extended arguments with the DM or other players over rules, as time is limited at these events. The Dungeon Master has the right to remove a disruptive player from the table. Disruptive behavior includes (but is not limited to):
   • Speaking over other players
   • Excessive cross-talk that is not relevant to the adventure being played
   • Not sharing the spotlight with other players
4. No tolerance is given for aggressive behavior, and are grounds for immediate removal from the game.
   • Aggressive behavior includes threats of or actual physical aggression against another player, disrespecting pronouns, using slurs, and otherwise harassing participants.
5. Any player who oversteps a boundary, whether explicitly set or not, should be held accountable with the use of the X-Card. X-Carded behaviors will immediately be halted and discontinued at the present table.
6. If a participant feels uncomfortable bringing an issue to the attention of the table via X-Card, the participant should notify a Dungeon Master or Quelmar representative as soon as comfortably possible.

Location	Campaigns
MD	Ciphers and Stamps, Pirates of Quelmar, Uncharted, OathWielders, Chronepsis Campaign, Atla Campaign, Untitled Podcast Campaign, SotS Inc, The Underdungeon, Towson Tabletop, Sick of this Shit
Online	Sonrise, The Paragon Protocol, The Court of Bloom and Blade, Troubles in Alanya, Knowledge, Lost and Found, Aw Heckna!, Qandela Obscura, Infernal Invasion, Painted Sands of Pteris, Assassins of Q-Synara, Within the Wicked Wilds, Quelmarch, Trial of Dreams, Deadly Diaspora, Cirque de la Fey, Reckondary Characters, Icewind Dale, Queljammer, Sparrow's Point, The Beggar's Bodega, Quelmar Goes to Space, Secondary Characters, Realmtrotter's Guide to Zobeck, The Neighbours, For the Love of Gold
PA	Bedlam in the Badlands, The Court of Bloom and Blade, The Backhalls 2, Within the Wicked Wilds, Alien Colonial Marines, The Iron Sea, Teatime Adventures, Into the Greedy Green, The Backhalls, The Beggar's Bodega, Brightwater Campaign, Realmtrotter's Guide to Zobeck, Ancients Alive
International	The Cola Bears Saving the World, Queljammer
Twitch	Blood Wood, Depths of the Druma, Just the Q of Us, CyberpunQ, Untitled Mafia Project, System Agnostic, First Class, Once Upon a Town, The Rocklin Clinic Job, Not Strahd, Another One Bites the Dice, Rule Benders, Metagame, King for a Day, Operation Verdant Pyramid, Playtest Tuesday, ⮞Get Submodule, Tails of Quelmar, It Came From Kiston