New Player Friendly, Whimsical and Cute Campaign for Levels 1-5!

Creating your character

Character creation will be done prior to the first session. The campaign will be on Roll20, with video calls on Discord. The GM (Salem) will assist anyone new to Roll20 or Dungeons and Dragons with character creation prior to the first session. For this campaign, classes, races and backgrounds, as well as spells, will be limited to what is available in the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition Player's Handbook and the Humblewood campaign setting. All necessary reference resources will be provided in the campaign compendium on Roll20.

Preparing for the session

You will need a discord account and a Roll20 account. Join the discord and roll20 campaign link that will be sent to you upon reserving a seat, and message Salem if you require assistance creating a character.

What Salem brings to the table

This campaign will include character voices, ambient noise and music, visual aids such as maps and artwork, plentiful scene description, and a whole lot of whimsy. The rules of the game are primarily just to provide a framework for the role-play and storytelling, which will be the primary focus of the campaign, although there will be a mix of roleplay and combat elements.

Homebrew rules

Drinking a potion is a bonus action. Weapons held in an off hand can be used to make an attack as a bonus action. Critical hits add the maximum of the damage die. For example, if you are attacking with a shortsword that does 1d6 and you roll a critical hit, the damage will be the result of the 1d6 roll plus an additional 6 damage. Spellcasters may cast multiple spells per turn, so long as they have the action economy and spell slots to do so. For example, a cleric may use Healing Word, which is a bonus action, and on the same turn use Word of Radiance, which is a regular action. We will be using 5e 2014 rules, but I will allow druids to speak when wildshaped, so long as the creature they are wildshaped into has a mouth. Variant ability score increases is allowed for all player species.

How Salem creates a safe table

This table will include several tools for keeping players safe and handling potentially distressing topics. The GM(Salem) has an open door policy, so any player may approach him with concerns for any reason, and players are free to take a step away if they need to at any time. The players will receive a break in the middle of the game, so players can address their needs such as taking bathroom breaks, medication, getting water and snacks, stretching, or just taking a moment to decompress. The end of every session will include a debriefing, where players can discuss their feelings about the game, express concerns, or make suggestions. During this debriefing, we will discuss "stars and wishes." Stars are things that the players enjoyed about the session, and wishes are things that players would like to see in future games. Additionally, an "XNO card" system is in place. This system is meant to help players avoid distressing topics during gameplay. The X card is a full stop, for when a scene is too intense and a player would like it to stop immediately for a mental health concern. This is done by simply sending an "X" in the chat, which will immediately begin a break, during which the player will be moved to a private call with the GM to ensure their wellbeing, and gameplay will only resume once the matter is resolved. A N card is when a scene is approaching something that is a distressing topic, to let the GM and other players know to ease off on that topic to avoid the scene becoming an X card situation, and is similarly signalled with an "N" in chat. O cards are used by participants as a check-in, to make sure everyone is doing alright during a tense scene. When you see an "O" in chat, respond with one back to confirm you are doing alright, or it is an opportunity to speak up that it may be an "N" situation.