Curse of Strahd - D&D | Roleplay & Redemption (LGBTQ+ friendly)

Creating your character

🚨 Please don't pre-create your character. 🚨 Character creation will be part of Session 0. You're welcome to come up with ideas ahead of time, but I find that the strongest parties are those made collaboratively. This allows for the PCs to have an established history together before the adventure begins (avoiding the "you meet in a tavern" awkwardness!) Characters will start at Level 1. Barovia is a land populated almost entirely by humans, so be aware if you choose to be a Fire Genasi with actual flames for hair, you WILL stand out! All core rulebooks are allowed for character creation. I've got access to them all on DnDBeyond, so it should be easy to add any Species, Class, Background to your sheet. Third party / custom character classes and features are allowed, but not the default. You'll need to persuade me that each one makes thematic sense and will add to the story we get to tell together. I find there's more than enough with the core rules + Xanathar's and Tasha's and a bit of re-skinning.

Preparing for the session

Discord (server link available once you sign up) DnDBeyond (campaign link available once you sign up) I prefer players to have webcams turned on whenever possible. It helps me know that I've been heard and understood, and also helps avoid crosstalk. I'm happy to do quick tech tests with you ahead of the session to make sure everything works smoothly.

What Rich - Renegade Rolls brings to the table

We'll start with a full Session 0 where we'll discuss: - Safety Tools - Character Creation - Party Dynamics and Relationships Combat will be a mix of tactical gridded combat and theatre of the mind. I enjoy fast-paced games over optimal tactics. This means that my NPCs might not always make perfect decisions, and you're welcome to exploit that. In narrative / roleplay moments, my DM style is all about improv and reacting to whatever the characters do, while keeping a handle on things to make sure everything fits within the fiction that we've established. I personally very much enjoy finding different voices for my NPCs. When you're in character, you're welcome to speak as you normally would... but if you want to do a sneaky goblin voice, I'll encourage it wholeheartedly! I like to move the spotlight around, and will use improv style "editing" to keep things snappy. If a scene is dragging, I'll literally say "and scene!" or "we cut to" and we'll jump to the next thing. The game will include optional ambient music in Discord. The volume can be set and turned on / off by you at any time, and won't impact the core experience of the game.

Homebrew rules

We'll be playing D&D 2024 pretty much Rules-As-Written, but GM interpretations and The Rule Of Cool will always come first. Third party / custom character classes and features are allowed, but not the default. You'll need to persuade me that each one makes thematic sense and will add to the story we get to tell together. I find there's more than enough with the core rules + Xanathar's and Tasha's and a bit of re-skinning. We'll have a discussion on any preferred house rules as part of Session 0. A rules intro / reminder will be part of the pre-game in Session Zero.

How Rich - Renegade Rolls creates a safe table

Curse of Strahd is a horror campaign... but horror only works as long as everyone is feeling safe and having fun. I take Safety Tools very seriously, and it's fair to say the campaign as-written has a LOT of content warnings (see that section for the full list). The themes of Abuse, Blood, Character Death, Death and Violence are core to the adventure, but all the other ones listed are optional, depending on the all players preferences. If you don't feel comfortable with the inclusion of e.g. Alcohol Use, I'm very happy to change that section of the campaign, and make a switch or homebrew something to fill the gap. Once we're all online, we'll start each session with Housekeeping, Player Intros and discussion on Safety Tools. I'll do an extended version of this for Session 0. If this was a movie, it would have an age rating of 18, but it would still be a classy affair: even with lots of Content Warnings, I intend to veil over gratuitous details, and I'll be using X Card / Pause for a Second myself liberally. My preference is for everyone to do this via audio: saying "X Card" or "Pause for a Second" but I'll also have my messages open if anyone prefers to share via a text message. We'll take time at the end of each session for a Debriefing as well as sharing Stars & Wishes.