YOUR TOWN WILL BURN!

Creating your character

You will have 3 different options for character creation: I will have pre-generated characters available, you can create your own character, or you can describe the character you want and I can make it for you. Just keep in mind that all the characters in the campaign are from in or around Greenriver Bend. Feel free to ask any questions you have--I'm always happy to answer, and if you want, I will give you the freedom to make up lore for yourself if you like! Ideally we will come into the first session with some basic ideas about our characters (though it's okay if you're not sure!), and we will finalize details about the characters and their relationships in the first session. We will be starting at level 3, using point buy (standard 27 points), 300gp, and you can freely use any official books. Partnered, homebrew and third party content is acceptable, but only upon my approval. We will be playing on Roll20, you can create the character there on your own and import it, create it directly in the Roll20 room, or create the character on D&D Beyond and connect with Beyond 20, whatever your preference is.

Preparing for the session

We will be communicating via voice on Discord, so you will need a Discord account and either use the web service or download the program. I will provide a link to our Discord server. We will use Roll20.net as our Virtual Table Top (VTT), so you will need a Roll20 account as well. I will provide a link to the room.

What Jesse brings to the table

One of my favorite parts of GMing is doing all kinds of different voices and performances for different characters. You can expect to meet confused kobolds, cantankerous dwarves, cackling hags, growling warriors, tricksy fae, and raspy undead, among others! All maps will have line of sight/lighting effects, so you will only see what your character sees, to improve immersion. I will be playing ambient music, typically powered through Syrinscape, over the Discord call. I believe greatly in empowering the players! Whenever there is an opportunity to flesh out the world that I haven't thought about before, I will usually ask the players to chip in what they think. For example, if a player asks, "When was the last time there was a major monster attack on Greenriver Bend?" I might ask for a History check, and if they player succeeds, I would ask them if they want to describe the last major attack themselves. If no one has any strong feelings I will always jump in and provide the info, but I like players to feel like they have a hand in crafting the world--with their play by actively acting in the world, as well as in situations like this. I enjoy presenting challenging encounters for the players, and them realizing just how much they are capable of--usually much more than they think! We will discuss the comfort level of everyone around difficulty during Session 0, but I enjoy crafting tactical and interesting combats (and skill challenges and social encounters) that will feel tense and dangerous, but in which you ultimately emerge victorious. I have a fairly encyclopedic knowledge of the rules of D&D, and I'm going to stick pretty close to the rules as intended for the most part. You usually won't have to wait long on rulings from me. There is, however, a fair amount of things that are not very clearly spelled out in the rules, and I'm happy to empower the players to think outside the box and do things that are not explicitly part of their abilities, as long as it seems reasonable and doesn't trample on some other class/feat/species trait and isn't wildly unbalanced. I have all the official D&D books available for my room on Roll20 for character creation.

Homebrew rules

Stealth check hiding rules: use the enemy passive perception as the DC, instead of 15. If you end your turn (or equivalent outside of initiative) in clear line of sight of someone outside the party, you lose the invisible condition. Climbing and swimming Athletics checks have variable DCs depending on the difficulty, instead of 15.

How Jesse creates a safe table

I will be sending a Lines and Veils document for everyone to review and add their own Lines and Veils. In Session 0, we will go over: the previously mentioned Lines and Veils document (and a discussion on what people are and are not comfortable with at the table), possible homebrew rules and character options, how we handle conflict between player characters, how we handle rules disagreements, what themes and concepts we wish to explore in the campaign, the relationships between the characters and any NPCs they know, what establishing information we need to know about the world to begin, how do we address tension or feeling uncomfortable during the game, how to be prepared to play and when your turn comes in an encounter, expectations around missing sessions, what are we looking to get out of roleplaying, what aspects of RPGs do we want to emphasize in this campaign, how difficult should the encounters be, how much agency should the players have vs. how much story should I be directly planning, how to share the spotlight between the players, pet peeves, do we want downtime in the game, how long do we want typical breaks to last, expectations around the 'rule of cool' vs. angleshooting, how Stars and Wishes will work, if people wish to be on camera, how the X, N, and O cards work, preferences about frequency of magic items, or earning feats and powers. After each session I will do a basic check in with everyone to make sure everyone enjoyed and remind them they are free to contact me privately with any concerns. After every 4-6 sessions or so, I will do a more formal Stars and Wishes survey (explained in Session 0), where we can review what people are enjoying and things they wish could change.