Descend. Discover. Survive. PHANDELVER. | Beginner Friendly

Creating your character

Our first session will be a "Session Zero" where we will get everybody set up on Roll20 and Discord, talk about the campaign and what to expect, get to know one another, and help any beginners construct their first characters. This will not be a free session because I intend to be very hands on with beginners and with coordinating your characters' stories. Now, for character creation. Beginners: I will explain the following stuff to you if you don't understand it, and guide you through the creation of your character personally in our first session. Everybody else: We will be using the 2024 (aka 5.5e) rules. Characters will start at level 1 with standard starting equipment/funds. All material from Wizards of the Coast core and expanded rules books are allowed, as well as from any Faerun/Sword Coast setting books, with the caveat that if something has been reprinted in a later book, you must use the most recent version. Content from other setting and third party books is generally disallowed. Homebrew will not be allowed. We're trying to keep things simple for our newer folks. Ability score generation will be standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).

Preparing for the session

All players must have a (free) account at discord.com in good standing and the ability to clearly converse on voice through it (Mute players are excepted). All players must make a (free) roll20.net account and have a device capable of interacting with Roll20's game interface (tablet, relatively modern computer). Links to my Discord server and to join the Roll20 game associated with this campaign will be given when you join. You will also need a (free) Google account so that you can receive a copy of the Lines and Veils Checklist document, edit it, and send it back to me. Optionally, you can also get a (free) account with D&D Beyond at dndbeyond.com if you prefer to use that system for your character sheets. I have a campaign on that site you can use; its link will be given if you book with me. However, if you are new to the game, I recommend you use Roll20 so you can enter more things about your character yourself. In either case your character sheet must be either on Roll20 or D&D Beyond.

What Steven brings to the table

As the Dungeon Master, I am the "referee" of the game, as early editions of the rulebook put it. I help you and your allies tell a story for the ages, and while I must, by nature, control and direct all of your enemies, I'll be rooting for your success, too. It's my job to give you an entertaining challenge to overcome so that victory tastes sweetest and the battles are memorable. I also am the adjudicator of the rules and the mediator of any disputes at the table. You can expect that I will bring a friendly, inclusive, and professional personality to the game. I'm not a professional voice actor, but I try to give my NPCs (characters that aren't you) personality and some accents or voices to make them stand out, especially if they're monstrous in some way. I like to read box text from the book with dramatic flair, and I occasionally flavor combat with flourishes of narrative description to provide relief from the tedium of "I roll a 16." "You hit." "...14 damage." "Okay, not dead yet. Next." I like to be rules accurate, but at the same time, I like to supplement the rules with homebrew rules when they don't address a situation that happens or an action a player wants to do very well. I encourage my players to be creative in combat; it may be difficult if your character has no abilities to support it, but if you succeed, you'll likely be rewarded with Heroic Inspiration and more! I also enjoy letting my players role play amongst themselves and with NPCs if they are so inclined. When characters get to display their personalities and develop bonds and feuds with one another, the game really comes to life and the story starts to mean something. All of our sessions are held in voice on Discord. In support of this, I employ a subscription to Syrinscape (as well as some other audio services and assets) to provide ambience and sound effects to the sessions. I also use the Craig Discord bot to record sessions, but I do not publish the audio anywhere on the internet. Instead, I pair it with the Saga20 service to create summary notes for the session. You should still take notes of your own for the game to keep yourself engaged with the story (and to capture any details or connections relevant to you that Saga20 might miss), but I will provide a copy of the generated notes (after I've made any necessary edits) to you all for review.

Homebrew rules

I normally employ a few stock house rules in my games, but seeing as how this is a game aimed to educate beginners to D&D, I will withhold them to ensure a clean learning experience. If a situation arises where I feel a need to institute a homebrew rule or ruling, I will make it clear to players that it's non-standard and should not be expected to be the same in other games they play. The following are the exceptions; they are more about conventions in using VTT technology than game rules: 1) If you accidentally roll something with advantage or disadvantage when it does not apply, we will always use the first roll made. 2) If you say you do something and make a die roll in support of it, you can't take it back unless that would have been illegal to do. 3) You can move your token around in your square to get a better point of vision so long as the center of the token doesn't leave the square or go through prohibitive terrain (walls, cliff edges, etc.).

How Steven creates a safe table

Our very first session will be a "Session Zero". During that session, I will go over the premise of the game, have everyone introduce themselves, and I will direct players to my Code of Conduct (hosted on my Discord server) to ensure they all agree to abide by it. After that, I will provide a link to my Lines and Veils Checklist on Google Sheets, which will provide each player their own copy. They will fill out their comfort levels with a list of potential subjects and triggers and share it back to me, and then I will review them and compile them into a master list for the group (keeping individual preferences anonymous). If I detect any conflicts between a player's sensitivities and the vital content of the game, I will recommend that they may not be a fit for this game and refund them for their first game if they choose to leave. Otherwise, the lines and veils the party has established will be respected, with offending content being faded to black, discreetly avoided, or entirely replaced by me as necessary. Our Session Zero will be extended considerably compared to those of some games by the process of coordinating everyone's player ideas and actively helping beginners to create their characters in an educational format. After Session Zero, every game session will have a 10-15 minute break in approximately the middle of our four-hour limit to allow players to decompress, converse, attend to brief personal needs, and approach me privately about any subjects they feel the need to discuss. In addition, if any session causes a player to become overwhelmed or triggered, they are free to walk away at any time (hopefully they will tell me first so I don't worry). We will proceed without them if we are able to, but I will recap for them anything they missed when they return, and we don't have to discuss why they had to step away. Players should feel safe and free to direct message me on Discord at any time about anything that concerns them about the game or their participation, and I will do my best to make things right or work out a remedy with the rest of the group. I want my players to be able to relax and have fun with me and each other in all of my games while taking others' feelings into careful consideration. At the end of the day, this is a game (one you're paying for!), and if it becomes an unpleasant experience, you should take steps to either try to improve your experience with it or otherwise remove it from your life. That's my approach; bad D&D is worse than no D&D.