The Search for Lord Approt

Creating your character

Character creation will happen in session zero with all other players present. This is to help establish how the party dynamic will be right off the start, and to even try to link shared backstories and knowledge. Stats will be decided with a standard roll 4d6 drop the lowest, with barriers in place to make sure each player has an acceptable range. No underpowered characters, and no stat starved characters. Starting level will be level 3, and for particularly new players, I'll make sure to set some time aside in order to get them familiar with their new link to the world. All of this will happen on DnDbeyond, where I will share access to my wide range of books for character options. I do plan on vetoing certain character options, but they are few and far between, mainly to prevent situations that would hurt the state of the game.

Preparing for the session

You will need active accounts in three locations and be able to download an extension for your browser of choice. Discord for voice and communication outside of session, Roll 20 to participate in our tabletop scenes, DnD Beyond for character creation, and the ability to install the Beyond 20 extension for any chrome based browser.

What Ryan brings to the table

Games will be played with background music that is meant to add to the ambience of scenes, but can be muted if you use your own music. I do put effort and planning into my combat scenes to make them challenging, but never brutal. If combat becomes too stressful or risks ruining someone's fun, it can be dialed back. This will be a sandbox game, but that doesn't mean no direction, I have most sessions planned out at least a session in advance, but really enjoy allowing players to go off the beaten path. As a DM I like to stick to the rules as written for the most part, with a heavy lean toward the interpreting them in the player's favor. If a rules conflict arises, it will be discussed quickly before returning to the game, and be discussed further at end of session if more needs to be said about it.

Homebrew rules

To save time calculation damage for crits, we will roll normal damage, and then double it. Natural 20 saving throws allows the user to resist the full damage and effects of abilities that require saves. This applies to monsters and players. There will be no flanking rules Opportunity attacks made by players and monsters will always be made at disadvantage, unless countered by some form of advantage.

How Ryan creates a safe table

This will be brought up again in session zero, safety tools are welcome and can be brought into the game at any time, no questions asked. I will ask for topics that are no goes from players in session zero, and if none are provided, all of the topics listed in my content warnings are on the table. Many of the more upsetting things our society today disagrees with will be treated as such in the game. If the barriers in place are not enough, I will always strive to be present in discord chat before and after sessions for private conversations. There will also be a conversation in session zero and throughout the following sessions to determine what each player is feeling about certain topics in the game, mainly to allow me to focus in on the fun of a situation as opposed to the negatives.