The Empire Initiative

Dungeons & Dragons 5E Real Play Podcast Set in an adapted MCDM universe.

Destiny hangs in the balance as a Frog, Tiefling, and Dwarf navigate the perilous realms of royal intrigue, romance, religion, and warfare, seeking to shape the fate of their newly founded kingdom in the ever-shifting political landscape of Vasloria.

Please note: this podcast features themes of violence, profanity, and light descriptions of sexual acts and desires, and is not suitable for listeners under the age of 18. Content warnings are listed in the episode descriptions. Stay Safe, Friends!

Currently streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible/Amazon Music, RSS.com Community, Podcast Index, and Listen Notes.

New episodes air every other Monday!


Roll Fourth: A TTRPG Podcast. Lady Zevari Umbermoor, Played by Samaria Hawkins

Lady Zevari Umbermoor-Kenway/ Lady Litria (she/her)

“May or may not have sold her soul to the devil but that’s somehow the least of her worries right now.”

Played by Samaria Hawkins (she/her)

Tiefling

Beginning Levels:

  • Pact of the Fiend Warlock – Asmodeus: 8
  • Twilight Cleric: 2

Zevari’s Spotify Playlist >>

Ep. 0 | The Prologue Snippet – Lady Zevari Umbermoor, Played by Samaria Hawkins

Audio Captions

Samaria: I am Samaria and I play Lady Zevari Umbermoor-Kenway. Your friendly, local Cleric/Warlock who…you know…may or may not have sold her soul to the devil but that’s somehow the least of her worries right now. It’s also the intro that I have for her Spotify Playlist. Like, if you click on it, that little blurb is right there. Right up top.

Current, technically, Baronet in Dalrath. Married to the Kenway heir. Who am I? I am his wife. I am expected to uphold the Kenway’s now but before that they called me the “Darling Jewel of Umbermoor.” And I am perfect or at least that’s how I have to be. To give you an image, who are we in the game? Well, we set the board. We aren’t a family of Barons. We are Counts. Our lands is a little bit bigger than all the other lands. We live up high in the mountains. Most of our region is very mountainous so it makes it easy for us to fend. So, we’ve been lucky enough to enjoy prosperity for almost 500 years.


Roll Fourth: A TTRPG Podcast. King Dart of the Hopkins, Played by Ryan Musgrove

King Dart of the Hopkins (he/him)

“A mad lad frog Chad with a crown and a gun and too many sons.”

Played by Ryan Musgrove (he/him)

Jungle Frogfolk

Beginning Levels:

  • Fey Wanderer Ranger: 8
  • War Cleric: 2

Dart’s Spotify Playlist >>

Ep. 0 | The Prologue Snippet – King Dart of the Hopkins, Played by Ryan Musgrove

Audio Captions

Ryan: I am Ryan and I play Dart of the Hopkins, a mad lad frog Chad with a crown and a gun and too many sons.

Rachel: Gasp

Samaria: Shut the **** uuuuup!

Ryan: HAHAHAHAHAHA

Samaria: Make Ryan’s last, please.

Rachel: Say it again. Do it again!

** Group Laughing **

Rachel: Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa! Say it again!

Ryan: Alright…Take Two. I am Ryan and I play Dart of the Hopkins, a mad lad frog Chad with a crown and a gun and too many sons.

** Silence **

Samaria: * Sharp Exhale *…..wow.

Rachel: Yeah…you’re going last.

Samaria: Yeah! Make him…Put his *** in the back!

** Group Laughing **


Roll Fourth: A TTRPG Podcast. Reign Vosgrove Played by Rachel Voss

Reign Vosgrove (she/her)

“Failing school but winning life.”

Played by Rachel Voss (she/her)

Hill Dwarf

Beginning Levels:

  • Waking Gravity Monk: 8
  • Bard: 2

Reign’s Spotify Playlist >>

Please Note: This character is a self-insert character made by Rachel to increase authentic disability representation in games for Forge Ahead: A Party to Access. You can add Reign and more authentic disabled characters to your games by checking out the FA Access Card Library on their website.

Ep. 0 | The Prologue Snippet – Reign Vosgrove, Played by Rachel Voss

Audio Captions

Rachel: I am Rachel Voss. I play Reign Vosgrove, the Dwarf Monk/Bard failing school but winning life. She is a manual wheelchair user. She does have her own chair but she also has her BFF Flux, her Best Friend Flux, who is a mimic that changes into her mobility aids whenever she needs it.

I know this is going to come because Reign is a wheelchair user, but Reign often in Moon Glide will be able to do, Moon Glide is where her gravity doesn’t effect her as much, she’s able to do things like a backflip or like do various different things a wheelchair user wouldn’t necessarily be able to do…in your minds. But **** it. Let’s do it. So there’s various ways she’s able to do it. So, just putting it out there in the prologue.

Shanna: Yeah. If you don’t like it, play your own game.

Samaria: Get outta here!

Shanna: This is our game.

** Group Laughing **


Roll Fourth: A TTRPG Podcast. Master of Dungeons, Shanna Cantu.

Master of Dungeons

Shanna Cantu (she/her)

Audio Captions

Shanna: Hello, my name is Shanna. I’m your MD, Master of Dungeons.

Samaria & Rachel: Hi, God.

Shanna: I’ve been DMing for about, 17, 18 years now. I’ve been playing since I was a teenager and playing 3.5 play in 5E and soon to be playing other games and hell yeah.

So we are playing in a very loose version of Vasloria, which is MCDM campaign setting. It takes place on a planet called Orden. My version of Orden is really large and has let’s just say…

Samaria: Has other **** going on.

Shanna: Yeah. yeah. so Vasloria is just a, a small part of of Orden as a whole. Vasloria currently, does not have, like…oh, I guess what I should say is in the way of what’s going on right now, I guess politically is that there is an emperor who recently, like within the last couple of decades, took over the area. He had killed the king and all of the king’s Dukes and, sort of left the baronies to survive. And things became slowly, you know, more and more disjointed, over time and have kind of like, degraded some.

Anything else about Vasloria? The pantheon is, a modified version of the Dawn War pantheon. Heavily modified. I do have a “Shantheon” and yeah, I can hook you guys up with more information on that.

So, yeah, it’s mainly a big mix of homebrew, but we did start with the, I think it’s called, “The Siege at Castle Rend” is the the name of the adventure in Strongholds & Followers. And then you guys did also did part of the follow up to that in Kingdoms & Warfare. and then in addition to, a little bit of Night Below from like second edition or something, you know, kind of sprinkled in there.