Heroic Curse of Strahd Homebrew Campaign

Creating your character

We'll be doing a Session Zero wherein we'll touch on character guidelines - I love when players come in with characters and backstories, as long as they're open to making them fit into the setting a little bit. Curse tends to be pretty flexible in my experience, so if you have one ready to go bring it in and we'll talk the little details to iron out so everything to sail smoothly and so I can integrate your backstory into the game! That said, you don't need to have one made that early, as I'm happy to talk you through character building and writing a backstory as quickly or slowly as you like. Adlibbing it is okay too within the realm of plausibility! All character options from WotC books are fine except for Silvery Barbs - that spell is banned at my table, unless everyone can agree to a rebalanced version.

Preparing for the session

You will need a Discord account for video/audio calls for sessions in a server specific to this game; for the VTT I usually use either Roll20 or Owlbear Rodeo depending on the session content, so having an account for each ready would be helpful. I'm happy to teach the basics of each if you're not familiar with them!

What Awan Castaneda brings to the table

I do use a lot of character voices of varying quality XD and I find I'm a typically RAW GM, but I make space for the Rule of Cool in ways that won't break internal consistency for the world we'll be shaping together. There's some small homebrew tweaks I use (listed in that section below). I rarely use music, as it can be tricky to implement in a way that doesn't clog up communication channels, but that may change if everyone is into background tracks and I find better tools for it. I'm decidedly RP-heavy, though I make an effort to make combat engaging by coming up with encounter mechanics, dynamic arenas, and more.

Homebrew rules

Critical hits deal (maximum possible damage dice roll result + rolled standard damage dice result + modifiers)! I also use Bonus Action Potion consumption, Bonus Action or Action (either/or) Skill Checks, Joining Combat Movement Boost (if you start pretty far from a fight but are at the same Point of Interest, I'll speed you along to help your friends sooner) are my core tweaks besides banning untweaked Silvery Barbs.

How Awan Castaneda creates a safe table

By or before Session Zero I'll be sending everyone an RPG Consent Checklist, which we'll go over and I'll tabulate before Session 0.5 (if we have more to discuss after S-Zero). I'll go over my copy that counts for everyone's concerns and ask about any Lines and Veils that might apply that either weren't on the list or might need a little more specific attention, and share some of my own if they're not already accounted for and discussed. We'll also go over how to handle table disputes, a safeword or card option everyone can use (I find every group may need slightly different tools for this), and character interactions between PCs and PCs, or NPCs. We'll also go over character creation and guidelines in line with our findings from the Checklist and discussion. Before, during, and after sessions I will always check on everyone, especially before particularly tense or otherwise tricky moments. We'll always do aftercare, as everyone's safety is first, then their fun.