War in the North - D&D 5.5e Campaign (Inclusive, Free Session 0)

Creating your character

We will begin creating characters at level 2. We’ll be using tools provided by the DM and from the VTT platform to make our character sheets, and after this, we’ll be doing a session 0 encounter before leveling up characters to level 3 as the official launch of the campaign. Character creation resources will be provided, from books to tutorial videos. All official and partnered Dungeons and Dragons content will be allowed, with the exception of content from the 2014 PHB and DMG. Material published prior to the 2024 rules update will need approval from the DM, which will normally require slight modifications before it’ll be ready. In addition, several new classes will be available upon Session 0 for players to choose from. Players get to choose how they would like their stats, either from a generous array or from an equally generous roll system. Players may choose between the stats of 15, 14, 14, 12, 10, and 8, or they roll. Our roll system uses 4d6 - players drop the lowest of the die, and the resulting number is the ability score. They perform this 7 times, and drop the lowest total result to get their 6 stats.

Preparing for the session

The most important thing to bring to the table is personality! We want to see players who aren't afraid to speak up, who don't need to be called on before joining a conversation, and who are willing to keep the other players' interests in mind while we play! Energetic, understanding, inclusive, and compassionate - with a minor penchant for overwhelming violence and excessive drama. That's what we're looking for! And remember, a lot of this campaign will deal with courtly demeanor and diplomacy, so you should expect this sort of roleplay before joining up! In order for players to prepare for this campaign, they will need a Discord account, as well as a webcam and microphone. Camera and mic use is mandatory. If players aren’t aware of the new 2024 rules, material will be provided for them to help get caught up. Players won’t be expected to memorize the rules, but once we hit around 10 sessions played, it’s generally expected that players should know how to handle their characters during combat at the very least. Again, skill levels are irrelevant - there will be plenty of time to learn, with lots of leeway to new players.

What Thayd brings to the table

When you’re playing an adventure with one of my campaigns, you can expect an immersive storytelling experience fraught with intrigue and danger. Musical ambiance, sound effects, animated attacks, custom-tailored encounters, and professional battlemaps will bring the world to life through the digital screen! Non-player characters aren’t just static signposts to deliver exposition, but are a part of your stories. They’ll grow around your characters, just as you grow into the world around you. Diverse cultures with varied beliefs abound in the world of Vetrhjarta, and inclusivity and community are cornerstones of all my campaigns! Adventures I host try to stick to the rules as much as possible, with a small handful of exceptions. When there are rule disputes, we try to keep things as close to RAW as possible, but there are reasonable exceptions - for example, using Shape Water to change the shape of a block of ice. The main reason why we stick to the rules is to make sure that combat is grounded before initiative is even rolled; while I normally help new players get used to the system with a few light encounters to begin with, combat in my adventures is brutal. If you aren’t paying attention, if you’re alt-tabbing, if you’re not thinking about how you can help your allies and exploit your enemies’ weaknesses, you’ll fail even lesser-difficulty encounters. Using your environment to your advantage is a very important piece to my encounters. Another aspect of my DM style is to make sure that players manage their inventories well. There are ways to conserve magic and class resources by spending the time to get your gear in order and properly prepare for combat. Food, water, shelter, protection for hirelings and mounts - while these seem like a tedious distraction, the rewards for properly managing your logistics may result in an encounter turning from a certain loss to a complete victory! There’s a lot of roleplaying at my tables. We can sometimes go several sessions of pure combat, and immediately chase that with multiple sessions in a row of roleplay, shopping, logistics, and even more roleplay and diplomacy to top things off! I don’t expect players to be perfect improv actors, but I do expect my players to be active participants in the conversation. If players just stay in their seats with their microphones muted, it hurts the experience of every other person at the table. Players need to be able to plan together, or else it will become one or two people making all the plans while everyone else goes along for the ride. Not only is this incredibly dull, but this will also almost certainly get you TPK’d! The more ideas, the higher your chances of survival!

Homebrew rules

We use very few homebrew rules outside of RAW. We use an alternate version of the Flanking system, where creatures who are flanking receive +3 on all attack and damage rolls. Yes, the damage doubles with a crit. We use critical hits on attack rolls, and critical successes on saving throws. We also use critical failures on these rolls, although there are no negative bonuses to crit failing an attack or a save. We do not use criticals for any other d20 test (skill checks, etc).

How Thayd creates a safe table

For safety tools, we use hard lines and X-Cards. During our Session 0, we’ll be creating characters together. It is at this time we’ll also discuss whether or not there are topics we feel are completely off-limits, or topics we’d like to avoid. There are already several topics we have banned, as a community, which will be discussed at the table. X-Cards are encouraged to be used at any time and for any reason. If people feel anxious about using them, then they don’t actually work. There is no problem with using an X-Card because something made you feel uncomfortable, and then changing your mind later. We’d all rather the card be played than take that risk. When someone declares an X-Card, we immediately stop the game and take a break. I’ll chat with the person who declared the X, and we’ll work on a solution together! If there was a particularly intense session dealing with dark subject matter or an excessive amount of gore, or if things started to get personal for characters and could potentially be overwhelming to the player, we’ll normally spend a bit of time after the session and unwind as a group. Most evenings, players tend to stick around for 15-30 minutes after stop time just to chat, and we use this time to clear the air of any potential issues. We also take a 30-minute break during the session to help cool down.