Daggerheart Sablewood Messengers Campaign - New Players Welcome!

Creating your character

You will be starting with 1st level characters. You're encouraged to make your own character, however you can use one of the published pre-generated characters if you prefer. All of the Classes, Ancestries, and Communities in the Daggerheart core book will be available to you for making characters. Characters will be created as described in the Daggerheart core book. We will build characters during the first session (session zero). All the character information is on Foundry, so you don't need to own the book to play. I ask that you play a good-hearted, heroic character who will rush fearlessly (though not stupidly) into danger where angels fear to tread. This is the spirit of Daggerheart and another element I want to embrace. This isn't the place to play an evil or selfish character. I want a group of characters who work together as a team and support one another. Feel free to come to session zero with some ideas of what kind of character you want to play, but please don't be married to one, single idea. We will make characters as a group and create ties between them. It's also fine if you have no idea or preference at all when you come to session zero. Sometimes players like to wait to see what the others want to do before deciding on a character concept, and that's great. You are, of course, welcome to get and read the Daggerheart corebook, but it's not required. I will teach you the game during play. You will learn by doing, by playing, which is the best way to learn, and also the most fun!

Preparing for the session

I've spent a lot of time worldbuilding this setting, and I will provide you with a PDF Player's Handbook of the setting that will have a lot of information. You are NOT required to read it. I will tell you everything you need to know about the setting during our game sessions. However, the document will be there for those who would like to learn more about it and dig deeper into its history. We will be using Foundry as our virtual tabletop, so you will need a (free) Foundry account and login. No worries if you’re new to Foundry. I can teach you how to use it during session zero. You can run foundry in your browser at https://foundryvtt.com/ If you're new to Foundry, I'll be able to introduce you to it during session zero. I will be using my Discord server for video chat, so you will need a (free) Discord account. You can run Discord in your browser, or you can install the desktop software. You can join my server using this link: https://discord.gg/YgyH2Q7ybp Once you've joined my server, please DM me on Discord so I can give you the permissions to see the private channels in the server for this group. In addition to the video chat, we will have a text channel and a forum for communicating outside of the game sessions. You will need a computer to play (not phone or tablet). You’ll also need headphones/ear buds. I ask that all players use these. Using speakers leads to echo effects that are very annoying and distracting to me and the other players. You will need a webcam. It's OK if you want to turn your camera off briefly to eat or something, but I ask that all players use webcams to enhance the experience of playing together as a team. I will share various documents with you throughout the campaign in a Google Drive folder.

What Lex brings to the table

You can learn more about me and my GMing style in my profile. I also have actual play games on my YouTube channel and as part of my podcast, Game Master's Journey. You can get a very good idea of what my games are like by checking out my most recent campaign: Blood of the Avatars. YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@StarwalkerStudios Podcast https://lexstarwalker.com/gmj In general, though, I am a fan of the players. I very much want players to feel like they can do anything, go anywhere. I am ready to improvise as needed, and we will be building the setting and story together. I'm not a GM who often says, "You can't do that." The only time I'd say something like that is if you wanted to do something that's blatantly impossible or doesn't fit within the world/story. I encourage and support creative uses of abilities, and I'm glad Daggerheart is a game that supports this as well. All that said, I'm a strong proponent for PCs experiencing the consequences of their actions--good or bad. This is where many of the best moments of drama come from in these games. However, I will always let you know what the consequences of your actions will be based on what your character knows about the world (which will be a lot more than you, the player knows). My number one goal is that players have fun at my table. I try to keep things as realistic and feasible as possible to aid in suspension of disbelief, as I've found that leads to the most immersive and enjoyable experiences at the table. But I'm also a fan of the "rule of cool" as long as it's not completely implausible, game breaking, or breaking of the tone we've created together. I love humor in my games, and love it when we're all laughing. I appreciate players who don't take things too seriously, but are able to allow serious and high-drama moments to occur when appropriate. I like a good balance of combat and roleplaying. I've run sessions with no combat, and sessions without a single dice roll. As is encouraged in Daggerheart, I only call for rolls when failure is possible and interesting/dramatic. You don't have to roll for things your character can obviously do. I also love combat, and let's face it, Daggerheart is a combat-focused game, so it would be a let-down not to have a good amount of combat. That said, there are almost always non-combat options to handling an obstacle if you're creative and motivated to find them. Combat will likely often use a battle map, but there may be combats that are theater of mind as well. It really depends on the situation. That said, if you have a preference, please let me know. I may at times use some music, but honestly I find it's often distracting. If or when I do use music, it will be instrumental/ambiant (no vocals), and you can control the volume of any music or sound effects I use in Foundry, so you don't have to hear them at all if you don't want to. I am not a professional voice actor or actor, so I won't be doing any voices or accents.

Homebrew rules

I am not using any house rules. That said, Daggerheart is a fairly new game, so there's always the possibility we decide on some house rules as the campaign plays out. But I don't have any in mind at this time. The setting is a homebrewed world, however I'm not introducing any homebrewed classes, ancestries, abilities, or communities at this time.

How Lex creates a safe table

Safety is very important to me. I want EVERY player at my table to have a good time, myself included. Nothing would make me sadder than for something to happen that made you feel uncomfortable or unsafe and got in the way of you having fun. Roleplaying is a creative and social activity. You put yourself out there, so we all need an environment where we feel safe and free from judgment to feel comfortable. Session zero will be an excellent time to let me know of anything that's important to you, and you can always message me privately as well. Hopefully we can avoid anything unwelcome happening at the table, but if something does, or it starts to head in a direction you're not comfortable with, then we'll use a version of the X,N,O cards. You can say "cut" (x card) to let us know we need to stop what's happening and move to something else. This will be honored and respected, no questions asked, no explanation needed. You can say "brake" (o card) to indicate we're verging into territory you'd rather not enter. This will be explained more in session zero. During session zero I will ask every player to privately message me with anything they don't want to see or experience in the game (lines & veils). I will share any such themes or topics with all the players, so we can all honor and respect them, but I won't say who asked for what. I will also ask you for anything you want to see in the game (stars & wishes). All this is out of an abundance of caution. I don’t usually use any themes or situations in my games that players find problematic or take issue with. There will be no PVP (player vs. player) allowed except in certain circumstances where all players are OK with it. And even then only “social” PVP—e.g. an opposed roll to see if another PC is lying. The only time “physical” PVP would be allowed is a friendly sparring match. Absolutely no trying to kill another PC. You are always free to take a break during the game anytime you want. I just ask that you let me know. This can be as simple as putting an AFK (away from keyboard) or BIO (bio-break) in chat. And then let me know when you're back by putting a "back" in chat. This just avoids me talking to someone who isn't there. I ask that players have and use their webcams as much as possible. It helps us to connect as a group. I've run games where some players don't have webcams, and they always feel "less there" than the other players. That said, you're always free to turn off your webcam when you want or need to--because you're eating or for whatever other reason. You are always welcome to contact me outside of the game to discuss any concerns or questions you have. Regarding the content warnings, I chose some tags that are pretty common in fantasy games and may occur. I'm not planning on any of them in particular, per se. But it's possible they could occur at some point unless someone doesn't want them to. Again, if there are any kinds of content you don't want to see, let me know.