Shadows of Waterdeep

Creating your character

Character creation can be done prior to Session Zero, but keep in mind that we will be fleshing out many details during S.Z. so your characters will need to be able to flex into place. For example, since the nature of who the party is within the world is to-be-decided, who each of your characters are will change depending on if you all decide to be a wandering party of adventurers, or perhaps a ruling caste of a city or nation, or a deadly crime syndicate, etc. The list of possibilities goes on, and so the specific details of your characters' lives, backstories, and relationships should be flexible until we sit down together and hammer them out.

Preparing for the session

In preparation for this game, players should have the following: 1. A D&D Beyond account (no subscription necessary). This is where we will create (rollable) character sheets, and where combat on battle maps will take place. 2. A Discord account. We will use Discord voice chat to host sessions. 3. A microphone & (preferably) a camera. Camera is not a necessity, but it's nice to be able to see one another in a game made for roleplaying. So much of communication is non-verbal, after all. Facial expressions, hand gestures, etc. Microphone is definitely a necessity, however. Need to be able to talk, at the very least. 4. At the bare minimum, please take the time to brief yourself with the "Basic Rules" (available on D&D Beyond), and feel free to ask me any questions you have while reading.

What Arthur brings to the table

I have a fair amount of books on D&D Beyond, including the 2024 Core Rulebooks. I also have an annual Master sub on DDB, so I have access to the Maps VTT they offer, which is what I use to run combat. Since we're not running a module, all we really need are the Core Rulebooks and our imaginations. I suppose I'll need to design some maps as well to go along with the campaign, since there won't be pre-generated ones. As far as in-game, I love doing voices for characters (although it's difficult to remember them all at times). I like to play monsters lore-accurate, so a group of Goblins will gang up on a target while their Hobgoblin leader commands them from the rear awaiting his opportunity to close the distance when an advantage presents itself, for one example. I enjoy using rules-as-written as guidelines for the most part, and thoroughly enjoy creative rule-of-cool style ideas. I love players coming up with creative ways to resolve encounters. As long as you can justify/describe to me exactly how you intend to accomplish something, I'll usually go along with it, unless I have a good reason not to. There will be some expectation from the players to contribute to the "world-building." Since this is a more open-form game to start, I would like to work closely with the players to establish them within the world and build adventures driven by the PCs you create. That said, I won't try to force anyone to put forth more effort than they are willing, but I might annoy you at times with a million questions about little details that don't seem important to you.

How Arthur creates a safe table

I have a Consent Checklist that each player will fill out prior to Session Zero to establish or boundaries (Lines & Veils), and Session Zero will be scheduled once we have the minimum requisite players (4), during which we will discuss how we want the story to begin, where we want to explore in the world, who the PC party is within the world, and what their goals are. As far as in-game safety tools, I keep things pretty open. If I ever cross a line or make someone uncomfortable, I welcome them to stop me and make me aware of their feelings. This can also be done in a private message, if that is more comfortable for a given individual. Any other tools players would like to use, we can discuss during Session Zero.