Bloodmoon Rising: COS as run by a true witch! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈⚧️♿️

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 but I am open to running a discounted one session run of the horror house to get new players up to level three before formal campaign start if requested during session zero. 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. I often do so to create sub-races for official races that lack them (ie, I have made snow leopard, serval, black footed forest cat, and house cat variants for Tabaxi). 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. Feel free to DM with additional questions you may have.

Preparing for the session

Please have a discord account. Upon booking you will automatically be given the invite link to the discord server for this campaign - once you’ve landed please provide me with the color you want your name to appear in and what name you want me to list for your role (it will default to ‘player #’ until you give me that info). 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 so this should be resolved soon). I love when players have the start of a character they want to use, but we can work together to make one that works for you at session zero if you prefer! I prefer people play with webcams on but don’t require it.

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 you are and aren't comfortable with at the table (though you are always welcome to message me privately if you do not want to have a trigger or stressor associated with you but want it noted for the campaign), going over safe words (X,N, and O's basically) and how you are most comfortable expressing them, and overall themes that you do or don't want involved in the story. We'll go over your expectations of me, and mine of you, any conduct expectations, your comfort levels with things like PvP or lackthereof, and any hard limits you 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.