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Dead or Alive - FREE PLAY TESTING
Free
Details
Once / Saturday - 3:00 PM UTC
Feb 18
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
4 / 4 Seats Filled
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Schedule
Meet your party members
4/4
About the adventure
You are a mercenary. Your latest employer has gold and wants revenge. Sounds good to you... he had you at "job available." The Quest Giver: The luxurious back-room in the Bee and Barb Tavern in Honeyton has been strictly off-limits to everyone except the most powerful and connected of visitors. This is the fabled "room where it happens"... and you're standing in it. Your friends won't believe it. Three Dragonborn are in this well-appointed banquet room. Two huge Red-scaled brutes, bristling with weapons of seemingly every fashion, flank a third who is seated in an expertly crafted chair. He is a frail but regal figure with fading golden scales. The elderly man's name is Rakkor, a well-known merchant who has recently fallen on hard times. According to him, and local rumor, his merchant caravan was stopped by a notorious band of highwaymen known as The Burrow Gang, led by the nefarious Captain Hackett. They murdered his guards, including two nephews, took everything, and left Rakkor for dead. This, Hackett told him, was the price for a "late protection payment." The old Dragonborn rises from his chair, crosses the room, and limps to a stop in front of you. His fresh facial scars deepen into shadows from flickering oil lamps. One bodyguard follows closely at the old-one's elbow, a soft-scaled old brute named Azeez. The largest bodyguard, the young sharp-scaled Kurtz, stomps behind you with blades ready in case someone decides to do something stupid. Azeez is cradling a small open chest. Rakkor takes a coin purse from the chest and turns to stare you in the eye. He presses the payment into your hand, closes both hands over yours, hisses a string of words in his tongue... perhaps an oath of vengeance from his severity. You feel a warmth wash through your blood, such is the heat behind the old man's breath and barbed utterances. He releases you and does the same for each mercenary down the line. "Half now. Half when you bring the butcher back," Kurtz growls. "Dead or Alive."
Game style
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(9)
2 years on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Teacher, Inclusive, Storytelling
About me
I’m an old fart who’s been playing and running Dungeons & Dragons since 1980. I’ve especially enjoyed passing on the tradition to the next generation by running games for my teen son and his buddies for the last 7 years. Now I’m focusing on educating new players, especially parents, on how to play with and DM for their own kids. Based in San Francisco, California (GMT -8) but available weekdays during normal business hours (9am to 5pm pacific time) by appointment. Perfect for Europeans looking for a 3-5 hour evening game after work.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
Characters will start at level 1 utilizing the basic D&D races and classes, the point-buy method for ability scores, and starting equipment instead of starting gold. We will use Dndbeyond for character creation since it is free and easy for beginners. More details will be on our discord server.
FREE PLAYTESTING for the "Dead or Alive 1-shot Adventure"! CLOSED TO NEW APPLICATIONS WHEN: Saturday, February 18 Start: 7am PT (GMT-8) Duration: 4-5 hours Session: 2/2 (possibly 3 if you're brainstorming Seal Team 6 level strategies like Group 1) Seats 4/4 filled Additional info: 1 session per week on the weekends as scheduled by the DM. Join a Friday Night Group, or a Saturday Group, or a Sunday Group. All times Pacific Standard (GMT-8). Three to four sessions of 4-5 hours each, starting with Session Zero. No experience required. My sessions focus on “how to play” and “how to DM,” especially for parents who want to run games for their kids. This is a one-shot adventure continually under development. It's currently designed for a single 8-10 hour session played at an average pace. We will play it as two 4-5 hour sessions at an average pace (or three 3-4 hour sessions pending player schedules). In my experience, if your party includes a player whose play style is a “planner,” then the game will go into a third 4-5 hour session. TIP: Don’t wait until the same day on this one! Join at least one week prior to the game so you can get access to the Discord server where you will get more info on the backstory, mandatory TTRPG safety forms, and can start creating your character prior to session zero. SESSION ZERO TAVERN RP: The tavern you start in is “frozen in time” before session 1. This is a fun feature on our Discord Server where you can text/voice RP with NPCs and even other players whether they're in your gaming group or not… and whether you’ve started playing or not! Take the opportunity to RP there between sessions, because anything you learn in RP may be used in-game if you wish. For example, players who just finished session 1, brainstormed questions for NPCs with o players from other groups to discover clues about Session 2 … all by using Session Zero Tavern RP!
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Requires a free Discord account with text and voice capability, a free DnDBeyond account, and a free Roll20 account. A gaming headset is preferred. We will create characters after joining Discord and completing several mandatory requirements including safety tools. Come prepared with a desire for fun, adventure, and working cooperatively with others.
What Darth Jazzhands brings to the table
The DM will provide everything the player needs to prepare for this adventure. No books, camera, or dice required. Perfect for the parent who wants to dip their toe into the game without purchasing the books.
Platforms used
Safety
How Darth Jazzhands creates a safe table
Our Discord will have links to TTRPG safety tools and other mandatory forms.
Content warnings
Safety tools used