Manuscript Mayhem : A DnD 5E Adventure for all experience levels

Creating your character

There will be a free session zero prior to actual start to go over (and help new players with) character creation, table rules and expectations, player ‘wish lists’ for the campaign, etc.. We will be starting at level 3 unless all players are inexperienced and request to start lower (discussed during session zero) in which case I’ll run a ramp-up starter adventure at the start of the campaign to get everyone to level three before we hit the main story and plot head on. I’ll be using a modified point buy system that I’ll explain in detail at session zero in case there are any questions, but the basics of it are this: you have 75 points to put anywhere you want (to a maximum of 20) in addition to your racial bonuses. This means everyone should have 78 points total on their character sheet at start of session one (unless they intentionally nerfed themselves for character backstory reasons) and you can put them into whatever stat your heart desires. I do this for a few reasons - one, people who want to prioritize feats when leveling up don’t have to worry about losing an ability score enhancement. Two - if you want to have a character who is a savant in one field at the detriment of most all others you totally can! I think that can be a fun character choice sometimes. Three - this way no one can be too sad when I throw something at you that’s huge and has hundreds of teeth, they got *exactly* the stats they wanted. Homebrew races, sub races, and sub classes will be considered but are not automatically accepted. If you have something in mind please bring it to session zero or dm me for consideration. I can assist with homebrewing something by custom for a player if needed/desired. All officially published content is acceptable, but we will be using the pre-2024 update version of 5e so please be aware of any rules differences for character creation that may apply to you. Please create a character who is *knowledge driven* in some way, and has some tie to the Grand Library in their backstory. This doesn’t mean you have to make a wizard bent on uncovering ancient arcane arts - you could just be super into knowing everyone’s secrets, an expert on merfolk underwater basket weaving who wants to learn a forgotten technique, a thief who has a goal to learn to unlock every kind of lock, or be fascinated by one particular topic. Just so long as your character has some vested interest in the pursuit of some kind of knowledge. They may be working there, studying there, on the ancient tomes recovery team, one of the magical creatures studied or kept there, or just an avid bibliophile (or even an urchin slipping in to escape the rain) - so long as they have a reason to be walking through its hallowed halls at the start of the story.

Preparing for the session

Please have a discord account and provide me with your username and the color you want your name to appear in so that I can invite you to a custom server and give you the appropriately colored role! I also strongly recommend making a MythicTable account (they’re free!) as that is my preferred map system, though I can screen share if you don’t have a computer, as they are a little clunky on mobile (though they are working on developing a mobile friendly version of the site)

What Renn Skye brings to the table

Players can expect a GM who builds the story around them - I have a plot skeleton with deliberate holes left out where I can weave in character arcs and emotional beats for each player. I do provide voice acting for characters, and have a voice mod system for more other-worldly sound augmentation needs, as well as background noises, ambient music, and stakes raising during combat. I am generally a Rule of Cool DM whenever possible, and love to reward creative play styles. I'm also an artist, so expect occasional doodles of your characters if I get inspired!

Homebrew rules

Drinking a potion is a bonus action - pouring one down the throat of your fallen comrade is an action. I allow for sacrificial spell casting - meaning if it’s the 11th hour, your out of slots, but your group needs you to cast something you can… at the cost of a level of exhaustion per spell level (you can cast past fifth level, but death saving throws are no longer an option, you’re giving yourself up to save them at that point). If agreeable with the table I prefer to roll my players death saves, so they and the party don’t know if it was a success or failure until the final outcome is decided. If the table is not okay with that I ask that players not share the result with the rest of the table to keep the suspense alive. I allow players to forego death saving throws entirely to instead take a ‘blaze of glory’ final round where they get functionally two turns back to back and then fall as if having failed three death saving throws. For the drama, the heroics, the chaos! Unless your components have a notable material cost (like heroes feast or revivify) I don’t care about components, and won’t make you worry about bookkeeping for them. Same thing with rations - unless you’re actively in a survival scenario where food is scarce and you’re desperately trying to make it I’m going to assume you have enough food and took the time to eat it.

How Renn Skye creates a safe table

Session zero focuses primarily on what my players are and aren't comfortable with at the table (though players are always welcome to message me privately if they do not want to have a trigger or stressor associated with them but want it noted for the campaign), going over safe words (X,N, and O's basically) and how players are most comfortable expressing them, and overall themes that players do or don't want involved in the story. We'll go over player expectations of me, and mine of them, any conduct expectations, player comfort with things like PvP or lackthereof, and any hard limits we want to avoid. I like to stay after sessions for post-session cooldown and aftercare to make sure everyone felt comfortable with the days play and doesn't have any concerns. I will also have private channels made to contact me over discord during games and will be available there throughout the week in case something comes up outside of play time.