Claw Your Way Through Icewind Dale's Cold With Me!

Creating your character

During Session 0, you will figure out your character's details and how they know the other members of their party. When the game starts, the party should be an established team, even if they only just recently formed up. Characters will start at level 1, and you can use material from any Wizards of the Coast book that hasn't been reprinted in a more recent book (excluding the 2014 core books). Homebrew and out-of-setting material will be reviewed on a case by case basis. We will be using the 2024 D&D 5th edition rules (or 5.5e, as some call it). You will have the choice of creating your character either within the Roll20 game or in the D&D Beyond campaign I have created for the game. I use custom ability score generation rules: - Roll ability scores as per the PHB's "Random Generation" method (Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die for each score). - Once all the scores have been rolled, check to see if either of these are true: - You did not roll at least a 15 in any of your scores - The sum of all your ability score modifiers does not add up to at least +5 - If either is true, you have the option of rerolling ALL of your scores (taking a mulligan), starting over from the beginning. You may repeat this process as desired, until the resulting scores meet neither of the above conditions. Due to the unpredictability, difficulty, and lack of guardrails in this game, I strongly recommend you prepare one or two backup character concepts, as it is easy to accidentally stumble into certain death throughout the campaign.

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 have a (free) D&D Beyond account at dndbeyond.com and join my campaign there if you prefer that site's character sheets. The link to the campaign will be provided to a seated player on request. You must keep your character sheet either in our Roll20 game or in my D&D Beyond campaign.

What Steven brings to the table

I like to define my style as a Dungeon Master as being a careful rules adjudicator (before going pro, I often played with some pretty hardcore rules lawyers) while ensuring that the rules don't ruin the fun of the game. I try to stick to the foundation of RAW, but I'm not above making house rules (with my players' consent) that enhance the experience, sand off the rules' rough edges, and codify how otherwise unaddressed or poorly addressed situations should work. I keep a list of house rules for each of my campaigns, and when I make rulings or new house rules, I make sure they are posted in a place where everyone can see them. It is my stance that if a player wants their character to try to do something, it's my job as DM to decide if it's possible and if it is, what must be accomplished to achieve it. I also believe that player creativity should be rewarded! I like to give my NPCs voices and accents (though I'm not a professional voice actor). I also provide ambient music and sound effects through a Syrinscape subscription. With the players' permission, I also record every session and use the Saga20 service with the recordings to create AI-generated session notes, which I then edit for accuracy and completeness and provide to my players. This service does not replace the player prerogative of taking their own notes, which are likely to be in better detail and are better organized than the session notes. Finally, I own many of the D&D books on both Roll20 and D&D Beyond, which allows players in my games to use all of the options in those books for their characters without having to pay for it themselves, or instead of having to write details in manually or messing around with DDB's homebrew system.

Homebrew rules

- Custom ability score generation (see character generation section for details) - Because the idea of square fireballs drives me up a wall, we are using the 5-10-5 diagonal distance system rather than every square being 5 feet regardless of direction. - If a character says they do something and make a roll in support of it, as long as it is valid, they can't take it back. - When more rolls than necessary are accidentally made, I favor the first correct roll(s). If you roll the wrong thing for a d20 roll, I simply apply the correct modifiers to the d20 roll rather than having you roll again. Any incorrect or surplus rolls will be ignored. - Players may move their tokens around inside the square(s) they occupy to get a different view, so long as the center point of the token does not leave the area of the square(s) they are in. - Borrowing from Baldur's Gate 3, if a character instigates a fight against unaware enemies their actions happen immediately, but on their first initiative turn, their movement and actions will not be replenished. - Players may choose whether to take average or roll for their hit points for each level after 1st, but if they roll for hit points, they can't take it back and use average instead; they're stuck with the roll.

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. 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. The Session Zero for this campaign will be free. After Session Zero, because of the longer duration of the game sessions, we will have two 10-15 minute breaks at approximately the two-hour and four-hour marks 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.