Tales of Aleria | Dark Fantasy Academy

Creating your character

Character creation will be fully covered in Session 0, to set expectations you start at level 5, in line with the rest of the party where we continue to level and gain advancement through other avenues as well, items, narrative points, a home base, relations with NPCs, and other rewards. If you would like to start thinking about your character, then feel free, we use a Standard array for stats, we are using the 2024 D&D rules for everything.

Preparing for the session

The most important requirement for my tables is a good quality microphone, with minimal distracting background noises. This is a long term immersive campaign with deep RP and your voice needs to be clear and listenable to for multiple hours, if your not sure if your mic fits the bill shoot me a message and we can work something out. You also need a discord account, I will send you a server link when you join the campaign. Once you are in send me a message to get started!

What Gaige brings to the table

I have a homebrew setting that I have been building for two years, and is currently being played by three other groups at the time of writing. The scope of this world is set up for gameplay from levels 1 - 20 over a series of many years. Players get access to a 20+ page player guide, Foundry VTT setup, maps, lighting, tokens, handouts, NPC art, custom magic items, custom monsters, ambient music, and Scrybe Quill recaps for every session. The game has a focus on RP and staying in character, discovering the secrets of the world as you progress through interesting challenges, combat encounters and political discourse in the kingdom of Aleria. I like to balance Rules as Written with Rule of Cool, and most of the time if you have a cool, unique idea of using something, and give me a good reason or a cool description, I will let it happen, but repetitive uses of the same thing will not be accepted, if it's cool, fits, and makes everyone's experience more fun, then why not! This world is not a place where I will change things because your group decided on going somewhere, Stories and NPCs unfold independently as you play, and just because you decided to head to the Dragon's Island off the northwest coast, does not mean that Scaldora won't be there, she has been for thousands of years and that's not changing on some random Thursday afternoon. Your choices, decisions and actions in this story will impact the journey you take. I heavily involve player backstories into the story, often spending late nights weaving everything together into one narrative experience. This is a campaign with a more serious tone. There will be laughs, fun moments, flirting with tavern goers and the like, but if you come to the table with a joke character, that makes the story less immersive, the experience less fun and I will ask you to bring a character that has a more grounded story, that fits the world's themes.

Homebrew rules

We use a small number of homebrew and table rules, including: Chunky Crits Modified Exhaustion Blind death saves, where only me and the player rolling know the result Some adjusted spell, item, and interaction rulings where needed Custom downtime, academy progression, relics, and faction rewards Any important rules are explained before they matter. I do not expect players to memorize a huge homebrew document before joining.

How Gaige creates a safe table

Session 0 is fully included and mandatory for all players. During it, we’ll go over: • Setting expectations (tone, roleplay style, party cohesion) • Character creation and integration • Consent and boundaries • House rules, tone of the campaign, and PvP/social interaction limits • An opening of the campaign A Consent form checklist will be sent to every player to be completed before session 1. I take safety seriously, and players are always welcome to message me privately during or after a session if something needs addressing. I try to handle things clearly and respectfully without making a bigger scene than needed. Aftercare Check-In: I always remain for 5–10 minutes after each session for anyone who wants to decompress, clarify events, or share reactions IC or OOC, this is one of my favorite parts, hearing your theories and thoughts after the game!