Theatre of Blood, A Vampire Politics Campaign: Beginners welcome

Creating your character

I use Foundry VTT to build your character and run the game. If you are not familiar with Foundry, I will help walk you through the process. Please have a character concept ready. You will start at Level 3 character using the DnD 5e 2024 Rules. My Character Building Document will also help you become familiar with the world setting and locations. The document is linked here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b_xRLFHLVtdcYupC969QpTugIEuri5yv0peMljt5RA4/edit?usp=sharing We will workshop together to create your character with their own personality and backstory! I'll help embed your character into the locations and lore of the campaign. I also encourage you to connect your character's backstory with at least one NPC. It can be one of my established NPCs or your own custom NPC (with reasonable boundaries, such as fitting into the lore of the game). For my newbie players (or anyone who'd just like my guidance), I will walk you through the entire Character Creation process. Restrictions! *Because I use my own homebrew mechanics, please do not use any other homebrews. *I will honor some 2014 (legacy) rules and 3rd Party content. Please check in with me to see if it's okay to use. *This is a high fantasy world setting, Guns and Artificers are not allowed. Warlocks are restricted, but I am open to discussing it with you if you think you have a Warlock idea that may connect with the lore of the game. *No child characters are allowed. Your character must be of an adult age for their respective species. *Again, this is a high fantasy setting, no Warforged or Monster characters, please. *Your character cannot start as a vampire, although they may have the opportunity to become one later in the campaign. Here are some questions from my Backstory Guidance Questionnaire that might help brainstorm your Character concept: 1. Why is your Character joining the Main Quest (i.e. hired by a Senator to investigate a missing person case)? 2. Beside the main question, what is your Character’s overarching goal/mission? What is something they really care about? 3. How does joining the main quest help them achieve their goal/mission? 4. What Faction(s) is/was your Character a part of? (a faction can be an employee of a company/shop, a student of the Magic University of Sunspire, apprentice/journeyman of a Guild/Association, a branch of the Military, a underling of a gang/crime organization, etc.) Why is/was your Character a part of this Faction? 5. Who is one mentor or underling of this Faction who is important to your Character (someone they really care about)? 6. How did this Character establish a connection with a Senator of the Republic? Was it by chance or through their Faction? 7. What is the socioeconomic status of your Character? Rich, middle class, or poor? 8. Are there any parental figures important to your Character? Describe an important bond that was formed between your Character and their parental figure(s).

Preparing for the session

- You will need a Discord account. - Microphones are a necessity. This game will be run over discord voice chat! - Webcams are optional. - Please give the Theatre of Blood: Character Building Document a quick read before you start brainstorming your Character concept. - Although creative character ideas are encouraged, please refrain from creating Orphan/Amnesiac characters. I would appreciate your Character to start with established relationships in this game. Again, I run my games in Foundry VTT. I have my compendiums ready to build your character. Come ready with a character concept.

What Mr. Tan the Magishen brings to the table

I will try my best to provide the following for this campaign: -Fleshed out NPCs -Reputation and Faction side quests -Battlemaps during Combat Encounters -Collaborative Combat -Engaging boss fights that require strategy and teamwork -Exploration -Downtime Mechanics during Long Rests -Ambient Background Music

Homebrew rules

Character Sheet *Max HP on Level Up. *Blaze of Glory Death Saves. (inspired by Daggerheart) *Heroic Martial Feats are unlocked after level 8+. These are DnD 4e Martial Feats ported over to give Martial Classes more interesting ways to fight (see Character Building Document). Combat *Multi-Initiative Boss fights *Party Roles similar to FF14, such as Tank, Healer, DPS, Debuffer, etc. Exploration *Short Rests Only during exploration. Long Rests are restricted to resting in a city or through narrative time skips. *Short Rest spell slot recovery mechanic when traveling through certain locations. Narrative *Story-Based Success and Consequence If you believe a certain dice roll holds important narrative-based value to your Character or the campaign narrative, you may choose to automatically succeed (at the minimum DC requirement) by incurring a story-based penalty. This penalty will dramatically alter the story development of your Character. You must discuss with me ahead of time what story-based penalties you would like your character to take. There are a handful of small homebrew mechanics that I will discuss with you before certain narrative scenes, such as Interrogation, Faction Reputation, etc.

How Mr. Tan the Magishen creates a safe table

Please fill out the RPG Consent List before we start playing. Link here: https://mcpl.info/sites/default/files/images/consent-in-gaming-form-fillable-checklist-2019-09-13.pdf As a teacher who has worked with children for many years, know that I value a safe environment to be essential for DnD. I will implement the same Behavior Expectation that I have done for my students in my classroom: Everyone will maintain a Safe and Positive environment for all. This campaign involves numerous adult themes, including political violence, abuse, human trafficking, blood, and horror. If you have concerns, sensitivity triggers, or a need for accommodations, don't hesitate to send me a private message. I will also regularly take temperature/vibe checks with everyone to make sure we are all doing okay and having fun. And last but not least, I have a no tolerance policy for SA or any allusion to it. Doing so will result in a direct removal from my game.