Heroes of the Borderlands: The Ongoing Adventures!

Creating your character

PLEASE READ! If you are bringing a pre-made character, they may or may not be allowed to join as-is. You may or may not need to create a new character. Between when you request to join the game and the first session you are in, we will work to make sure you love your character and they also can fit into where they'll be introduced into the adventure. Please use the standard array. This was how the game began so as to keep bespoke characters matching the power levels of any pre-generated characters...and so now that's the standard! I encourage you, but I won't force you to, be creative with how you distribute those stats. Some of the most fun characters I've had players pick have had non-optimized selections for their stats. Boosts creativity with handling obstacles and also with how the characters act! (Totally fine not to do that, though.) Starting level for Session 7 is 3. Character creation will be done using DnDBeyond, using the materials I have made available for that when you use the DnDBeyond campaign invite link. No paladins, tortles, or flyers. No Eberron or Ravnica. No guns. We'll be using Roll20 as the VTT. If you'd rather create your character in there, you'll have access to a few less official books but more third-party options. Just let me know so I can make sure everything works properly.

Preparing for the session

You'll need accounts on Discord, DnDBeyond, and Roll20. (Don't worry, player accounts on both DnDBeyond and Roll20 are free.) You should also be using a chromium-based browser like Chrome or Edge, although Chrome itself works best. This will also let you use a browser extension called Beyond 20 that lets DnDBeyond and Roll20 work really nicely together.

What JW brings to the table

I will do limited voices because I enjoy it. I DON'T require any of you to do that. Most of my players' characters sound just like my players. :) I will be using some ambience music and the occasional sound effect. Combat is both tactical AND a version of Rule of Cool. I believe in both RAW (rules as written) and RAI (rules as intended), depending on the situation, making combat cinematic, and letting your imaginations go wild with all the possibilities of what you might have your characters try and do! Having said that, RAW is the foundation. It's how we make sure we're all playing the same game. But, ultimately, I believe in "Rulings, not Rules," a pretty old philosophy in RPG gaming and part of what makes TTRPGs so much more than RPG video games.

Homebrew rules

I don't like the rules for critical damage RAW. I prefer Critical Role-style. A crit (a natural 20 on a 20-sided die for you beginners) doubles ALL damage, including the modifiers. There's less math that way and things move a little faster. Drinking a potion for a bonus action requires a roll for the amount of healing. Drinking as an action gives full hit points. We use Luck Points rather than Inspiration. These come from Tales of the Valiant. Don't worry if you don't know what those are. We'll explain them at your first combat. Trust me, you'll like them. (Basically, you get them when you miss rolls.) We also use critical hit and critical miss tables to make the results of nat 20s and nat 1s more entertaining in combat. Regarding critical misses for PCs, I use a different table to avoid the miss being too punishing. There are levels of success with d20 tests. Often, these tests aren't strictly success or failure. There are often levels of things between outright success or outright failure or of having success or failure being accompanied by positive or negative affects. We utilize "dungeon turns" to help keep track of time outside of combat.

How JW creates a safe table

During the game sessions themselves, there'll be a digital safety deck with a card for Stop, one for Caution, and another for Veils (fade to black). If problems arise, we will call a break. I will warn those who need warnings and listen to and speak to those who might need an ear and a shoulder. If someone crosses a line or veil two times (they don't have to be during the same session), they will be excused from the rest of the session where the second offense happened. If there is a third offense, they are kicked from the game.