Winter Curse of Strahd! Beginner Friendly

Creating your character

During Session 0, using the 2024 Player's Handbook. Point buy will be used to determine starting stats, and characters will begin at level 2. If you want to use a different resource for character creation, let me know which one and I'll review it - I'll probably allow anything that isn't way stronger then existing options. Characters will all have a personalised quest and start with a (cosmetic) relic that is in some way associated with their quest. The Daylight spell does not count as Sunlight.

Preparing for the session

- Discord account - Joining the discord server I'll use for this game - Speakers/headphones - A computer that can run Foundry (any computer with hardware/software from after 2014 should be fine)

What Rowan brings to the table

In terms of rules, I use whichever of Rules as Intended, Rule of Cool and Rules of Written makes sense for the situation (I lean towards Rules as Written when in doubt) and then apply that rule to any future scenarios. If a rule needs changing, I rework it. I'm happy to craft buffs for weaker classes/subclasses to stop a character concept being made worse by poor balance. I create magic items to style them around a character if the books don't have a suitable item. I run games that focus on roleplay over combat and exploration while still featuring them. I like to add mechanics into exploration and roleplay for important narrative moments. In terms of combat, I prefer tactical encounters and use original/third-party enemies to achieve this. There will almost always be at least one combat encounter per session. Combat almost always has a battlemap with dynamic lighting, whereas exploration and social interaction use background art. I have background music and use Foundry to have visual and sound effects. I do kill characters. I believe that there's no tension without risk and I will attack downed characters when it makes sense and/or it's the best strategy for the enemy in question to do so.

Homebrew rules

Drinking a potion is a bonus action. You can use an action to gain maximum health from a potion of healing. Dying is modified, so that characters can still be active while reduced to 0 hit points. Most monsters/enemies are original or third-party, and will be very or completely different to the monsters found in the Monster Manual.

How Rowan creates a safe table

I will go over possible content warnings during Session 0, and every session will have a break at around the halfway mark.