Battle Evil Puppets and Uncover the Town's Secrets

Creating your character

This standalone adventure is played with Level 3 characters in the 2024 version of the rules. Pre-Made Characters are available and can be customised to your liking, each also has pre-written personality traits, ideals, bonds and flaws that you can draw inspiration from or ignore as per your preference. Ability scores are Standard Array prefereably though Point Buy is permissable. You can build your own Background with the ability score improvements wherever you like, and any 2 skill and 1 tool proficiency. Characters can be created in Foundry where buckets of extra options from 2014e books and third party sources are available, or on D&D Beyond and then imported. Pre-made characters are available in Foundry. It is expected that character creation bleeds over into the first session, but preferable to get as much as you can done ahead of time. I will be happy to answer questions on Discord, jump into voice chat to lend a hand if I'm free, and walk players through anything they're struggling with in the hours or days leading up to the first session. Feel free to send a message to check if what you want to play is supported in foundry, I am usually happy to add new options on request. All core classes have at least 6 subclasses available. Artificer and the Dungeon Dudes' Apothacery classes are available. Interesting features from 2014 backgrounds have been turned into Origin Feats and rules for building Mixed Species Characters are available. If you're choosing to build on D&D Beyond then there are no hard rules for what you shouldn't take but please send me the link at least 48 hours before the first session so I can review, and I reserve the right to reject things that I'll struggle to DM around or that could impact the enjoyment of other players. You are welcome to request homebrew, I want to fulfil your wishes. For starting at Level 3 you have an additional 100gp to spend and a 100gp discount on a Common Magic Item, there is a list of them on the Foundry Server but you are welcome to request others. There is a full listing of items to spend your starting gold on in the Foundry Server which includes standard Adventuring Gear as well as extras such as special blowgun needles, mounts and even some siege weapons.

Preparing for the session

There will be a Discord server and a Foundry World (hosted on Forge) that you need to join - both links will be sent after sign up, and can be done in a web browser. You don't need rulebooks, physical dice or a D&D Beyond account, everything you need to build a character or claim a premade character as well as to play the game is already in Foundry for you to find. Please try to get as much character creation done as you can before the first session, but it is expected to bleed over into that session. I am happy to answer questions and walk through things on Discord before hand, including in Voice Chat if I'm free. Please make sure you have a working Microphone. You will not need a Webcam. It is highly recommended to use a Desktop or Laptop with a Mouse and Keyboard to access Foundry. Discord works fine with the Desktop App, in a Browser or on a Mobile.

What Dax brings to the table

Many weeks have been spent meticulously developing this experience with no AI usage. It features home made battlemaps, unique portrait and token images for every named or recurring character. Ambient music with tracks chosen for each scene instead of just a shuffled playlist. This experience has also been pre-playtested and iterated upon. I also bring with me a willingness to work with you to achieve the fantasy that you're seeking. Tell me what you want from the adventure and I'll try to deliver within reason. I view the rules of the game as a guideline, and don't feel obligated to stick to them. I don't stick to a "rule of cool" philosophy as such, but I make rulings to deepen immersion, reenforce character fantasy, and to help your build choices feel valid, while preventing you from trivialising the adventure or overshadowing other characters at the table. If something feels like an exploit or a bad faith interpretation, I will probably block it.

Homebrew rules

Rests happen in whatever time is needed to produce the right adventuring day, durations and activation times scale with them. Dexterity breaks initiative ties. Hand changes as intuitive/feels right (no juggling)

How Dax creates a safe table

Every group has a private section on the Discord Server which will include among other things a channel for Lines and Veils that is only visible to myself and the party. The list can also be added to and clarified at the start of the first session. Given that the adventure is only to be a few sessions, we will not set one aside for a full session 0, but I invite open discussion of expectations, wishes and so on in the private Discord section beforehand and will ask if anyone has anything to add at the start of the first session. You are welcome to raise anything you like in that context, and you are welcome to PM me with anything you'd rather not have in front of the group. There is a dedicated X Card button in Foundry which sounds a buzzer and displays a large red warning to all players to be used when you need to stop the session immediately. This action is fully anonymous, even I don't get to know who tapped the card, and we will rewind a bit and go in a different direction. Nobody will be expected to explain themselves if they don't want to, and speculation of who pressed the button in the event that they don't come forwards is strictly forbidden. An "x", "stop" or similar in chat is fine, as is shouting things into your microphone. If you need the session to pause for comfort reasons then anything short of lashing out at individuals is fine, do what you need to do. There is a Raise Hand button in Foundry which can be used at any time to make sure that we get your input or action before the scene changes or decisions are made that may affect the course of the adventure, I will treat "h", "hand" or similar in Chat the same way. We will also use the feature to check in between scenes - this is our "O" card, and I will insist on that being done with the button so that people are used to pressing them and nobody forgets where the X card is when needed. I don't have a specific "N" button, but players are welcome to flag it in chat if they feel things are getting uncomfortable. Players are welcome without explanation to step away for their own health at any time. All I ask is that you let us know with a quick "brb" in chat so that I know now to do anything important while you're away, and that you include "pause" or similar if you'd like us to wait for you. I will move things forward for the benefit of other players if you are away for too long though. The last safety feature is this text right here - this is an adventure with Horror elements. It is explicitly designed to be unsettling and to take you out of your comfort zone at times. That doesn't invalidate your right to a safe space though, we can navigate this together, but I must encourage you to be pro-active with raising things you don't want to see.