The Living Grave | Inspired by Nausicaä & the Valley of the Wind

Creating your character

We will be defaulting to the 2024 ruleset, but feel free to use material from before then, we will update it with the 2024 rules in mind. Any WoTC published material is fair game, and I allow homebrew if you run it by me first. For me, character creation is usually a dialogue between me and my players, and I am more than happy to bend the rules to make the game more fun for everyone. If you want something that's not rules as written, just ask me! It would be great if you could come to Session 0 with at least a character idea in mind. You can even bring a fully made character to Session 0 if you want to pass it by me. If not, don't worry! we will spend the bulk of Session 0 creating our characters, and if we run out of time we can finish them up in between then and Session 1. Level: We will start at level 1 but will level up quickly. Stats: Feel free to use any stat generation method mentioned in the book, however I prefer the Lizzie Method. That's where you roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die. You do this 7 times, drop the lowest of those rolls, and then assign the remaining 6 wherever you want, before adding racial bonuses. Extra: I will also be giving everyone a Level 4 feat, 2 standard healing potions, and a common/uncommon magic item (run it by me so I can approve it first). The latter being some sort of heirloom or something you picked up before the start of the adventure.

Preparing for the session

All you need is a Discord account and a way to access your character sheet and share it with me! I'm fairly new to running games online, so I will be experimenting with VTTs, but that's all for now!

What Elizabeth brings to the table

I run a very lenient and narrative-forward table, where rule of cool is the name of the game. The campaign takes place in a homebrew setting, with D&D being more of a medium than a source of worldbuilding material. I create many wacky characters and make liberal use of character voices, but it is up to you whether you want to use one for your character. I adjust the level of humor to my players but typically my tables tip from a joke-fest to drama and tension and back again throughout the course of a session.

Homebrew rules

1) Drinking a potion is a bonus action, feeding it to someone else is an action. 2) Crits on attacks are the regular roll plus the max damage possible on the dice. 3) Crit Successes and Failures in both combat and roleplay 4) Magic items are a lot cheaper than in the book 5) If it's funny or cool enough, I will let you try it!

How Elizabeth creates a safe table

Before Session 0, I will be sending out a consent sheet where you can describe sensitive topics that you do and don't want to explore. At Session 0, we will go over the subject matter of the game, and you can go into more detail about your preferences. If these change over the course of a campaign, let me know and I will adjust accordingly. The content warnings are ideas of what I am planning to explore in the campaign but I am always willing to modify the campaign if there are subjects my players are uncomfortable with. During play, you can DM me or say out loud that you are uncomfortable, and play will stop immediately. We will then talk about what is causing the issue and change play accordingly. You may also feel free to say when things are going in a direction that might result in needing to stop play. I will also check in with the group when things are getting or going to get heavy, to make sure everyone is prepared. At any point, you may let the group know that you need to take a break, and we will halt play temporarily to accommodate that. At the end of the session we will debrief and discuss everything that happened in the session, especially the heavy material. This is also a time where you can share things you enjoyed about the session, or thinks you'd like to see in future sessions.