Multiversal Shinobi Gestalt Campaign

Hello Everyone! I have been out of TTRPGs for a long time and while I know that the easiest way to play a campaign you want to is to DM it yourself, I am not really cut out for the DM role at a table. I'm too much of a player at heart. So I wanted to pitch a campaign setting idea and see if any DMs and other players would like to join in. It involves using the Naruto d20 rules from (more than) a few years back during the 3.5e era of D20, and then a custom variant of Hawk7915's Planeswalker class. The link for the base class is here: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?189767-3-5-The-Planeswalker-(WIP-PEACH) . And the Link for the Naruto D20 version I'm referring to is here: https://narutod20.com . The variant I have been working on is taking away the spells from the Planeswalker class and replacing them with the Tome of Battle Martial Disciplines and maneuvers. This will make color identity selection a crucial part of character creation. This is due to the way the Planeswalker Martial Boons have the colors divided up already in the thread on Giant in the Playground. I wasn't looking to gut and drastically over haul the class, just bringing the book keeping down a bit given how intensive Vancian Casting can be and I didn't want to fully add that to a Naruto D20 system. Each color has 3 disciplines native to it, and at the DMs discretion allowed to be subbed out for Homebrew disciplines (only along the appropriate discipline lines). The compendium for those is here: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?255468-Homebrew-Martial-Discipline-Compendium . The Class labels will be important later in this post. White: Devoted Spirit, White Raven, Stone Dragon (Crusader) Blue: Diamond Mind, Setting Sun OR Shadow Hand [Chosen upon creation], Stone Dragon (Swordsage) Black: Shadow Hand, Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon (Crusader / Swordsage) Red: Desert Wind, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon (Swordsage / Warblade) Green: Tiger Claw, Iron Heart, Stone Dragon (Warblade) Each Class label counts as 1 point for which table in the Tome of Battle you would use for maneuvers known, prepared, your recovery method, and all that. IE a Mono-Red character could pick between Swordsage or Warblade. A Green-White character could choose between Warblade or Crusader. But in Cases where one class has a clear 'weight' advantage such as a Green-White-Black character who would have 2 points in Crusader (1 from White and 1 from Black) but only 1 point for both Swordsage (from Black) and Warblade (from Green); this means an 'Abzan' character is a Crusader style martial Planeswalker. You still gain access to the disciplines of your colors, regardless of your color identity, you just may not be able to use them as effectively in some color identities. Four Color identities or even 'Domain' is HIGHLY DISCOURAGED as the four color combinations are merely defined by what they lack rather than what they have. It would also mess with the 'intersectional weighted point' math. I'm sure some people may not like this arbitrary constraint but in the Naruto Universe not everyone has multiple Elemental Natures and even those that do still have one that is stronger than the other. And its nearly unheard of for a ninja to have 3 or more elements. Its not that its impossible, its just rare, so I wanted to keep that theme on constraint going. I should also add that at DMs discrection (to be discussed and decided at Session 0 if this post goes anywhere) that maneuvers in theory COULD be argued to be a fusion of Taijutsu and Ninjutsu and should cost Chakra points. So that is an additional Balance point that could be used if the DM wanted. To go over the broad plot vein is that of a Shonen Anime. Its not that the stakes aren't there. Its not that actions and consequences lack teeth. But that the Party ARE the main characters. This does not mean that they are the strongest out there. It does not mean they are immune to suffering defeats. Or that they wont face foes who the win condition isn't to beat the enemy but to escape. Its that a TPK is usually met with a Timely Rescue either by an ally who out classes the foe the party was beaten by, or by reinforcements that outmatched the foe in some way shape or form. The reason behind this is to in effect 'signal' training arcs (or whatever you want to call it) where the party learns something or is forced to pay some kind of cost to over come. this could simply be guts, blood, sweat and tears. Or it could be a total mindset change, forced humility, etc. This does not mean that a character's passing is off the table but I personally would like for it to be Narratively significant not just cause of a bad dice roll, especially with how DPS burst prone this combination may be. Think Zabuza and Haku's end at the final battle on the bridge in Naruto prior to the Chunin Exam Arc. It's not that they were immune to the consequences of their choices but because they were narratively impactful. This means that Player consent to the loss of a character is very important. This is not to discourage the DM from positing to the party a moment where a PC's loss is orchestrated but it ultimately would be up for a discussion and up to players who are open to losing their character. This leads me into one of the other things I would love to see. "What's good for the goose, is good for the gander" I'd love to see the DM throw other Planeswalker Shinobi at the party as any given story arc's BBEG. Either as something the party has to grow to beat, or simply has to work through the mooks to combat. To me this leaves the phrase "I'm out of Spells, but not out of options" in my head. The drops of that just cause the chakra is dry doesn't mean the party (or BBEGs) are out of options, and you may have potentially made them more dangerous. Initially enemies should be less intelligent. Common bandits, Rival Genin, Wild Animals, Small battered Goblin tribes, etc. Enemies that were already doomed due to their failings (arrogance, lack of experience, or other poor choices). The party just happened to be the final blow. I would love to have a switch flipped once HP is no longer as much of a limiting factor to PC survivability. Whether that's due to healing output or the HP pool being large enough, the foes should be getting smarter, making the Party have to engage in an intelligence, creativity and information arms race. That's in addition to the abilities having to grow also. This is to ensure that feeling of teeth and tension. Earned Power and growth, not just ineffective foes. I also do not want to INCREASE the action economy just cause Naruto d20 and Tome of Battle use Swift and Immediate actions pretty heavily. I think that tension of "do I use this counter now or save the action for a worse issue, or even will it even help?" etc. is one of the best parts of Gestalt gameplay to me. That you gain NO extra action economy as a player. That just cause you have a more versatile tool kit; you are still just one person. There is only so much you can do in 6 seconds even in a heavily mystic Wuxia style story. I already have someone potentially interested as a player but that is a maybe not a for sure. I leave the party size up to the DM. I've heard good things about Foundry VTT and am open to purchasing and assisting the DM on its use, but ultimately the way we play would be online in any way we can. I am free on Mondays and Tuesdays and those would be the best days to run these sessions. Session 0 for this should cover the normal comfort lines and veils of the party and what we all are ok with and then Players can privately communicate with the DM about their comfort about character loss in order to keep the tension equal for everyone. Even if you know your character is safe, one of your teammates may not be and you should be doing everything you can to not lose them as a player character. That's a key lesson in the Anime that inspired that Naruto D20 System and not carrying that forward is a disservice to it as a source of inspiration. Thank you for your time reading all this, I hope it is of interest to people and that we can get a long standing campaign going. :)