Descartes’s Circle

Descartes was a vampire illusionist who came into possession of a magical staff know as the Mansion of Solitude. The staff contained an extradimensional mansion inside of it. This structure allowed vampires to sustain themselves from the enchanted food within without the need for drinking blood. A number of reformed vampires took up residence in the staff where they could avoid feeding on living people. Unfortunately the staff was found by Descartes. He wanted to use the magical item for his own nefarious purposes, but he couldn’t as long as it was occupied.

Descartes found his solution with Terroc and his band of adventurers. Descartes disguised his nature with illusion spells and entered Shalemstead. He hired Terroc to clear the staff of vampires. The mage and his companions entered the Mansion of Solitude and destroyed all of the reformed vampires with a magical mace. They emerged, but were betrayed by Descartes. The evil vampire fled west from Shalemstead to a ring of stones where his coffin was protected by his thralls. Terroc followed and defeated Descartes. The vampire ran away once more taking the Mansion of Solitude with him, but his place of power and his cult of followers were destroyed.

I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica) Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Seiya tells us about his TTRPG system and setting, Synesthesia Synthetica (SNS). SNS is a biopunk game adjacent to the cyberpunk and steampunk genres. After an asteroid induced climate disaster, Earth has rebuilt itself using bio-technology instead of the metal based tech that surrounds us in the real world. Genetically modified humans have split into distinct species and mutant horrors prowl the wastes outside civilization. The rich rule from their space stations up above but resistance is growing in the streets below.During the episode we discussed a piece of art that Seiya had made for the game. A picture of that bio-tank is available for you to look at.At the moment, Synesthesia Synthetica is available for free as an early access game on itch.io and DriveThruRPG.If you want to learn more or find a group to play with, you can do that on the Synesthesia Synthetica Discord.Remember to nominate your favorite TTRPG shows/creators/things for the 2026 CRIT Awards!Check out the Setting the Stage website!Want to be on the show? Fill out this survey.Join our Discord!Support Setting the Stageon Patreon! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
  1. 81 – Biopunk 2287 RPG (Seiya and Synesthesia Synthetica)
  2. 80 – Dynamic RPG Countries (Travis and Tetara)
  3. 79 – Dragon Age Degenerates (Zoe from Degenerates with Dice)
  4. 78 – D&D in Suburbia (Ryan and Serenity Springs)
  5. 77 – KPop DnD Hunters (Dan and Idols of the Neon Dark)