No Safe Road [5e][Biweekly][Custom Setting][Levels 1-6]

Creating your character

Player options can be selected from the 2024 Players Handbook, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything & Xanathar's Guide to Everything. There are 6 homebrew backgrounds I have created based on the worship of one of the 6 major gods of Azural. The backgrounds and basic information about the gods will be provided before Session 0. Characters will be starting at level 1 and can be created from the template linked below. All the major settings have been set in the template. Choose Starting Equipment for both your class and background, also have something memorable your character keeps with them at all times. https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/163348089 Characters will be imported into Foundry prior to session 0 where final tweaks to the characters can be made. If one of the backgrounds based on the Azuran Gods is chosen, they will be added in Foundry.

Preparing for the session

Players will need to have a D&D Beyond account for initial character to be uploaded into Foundry. Players will need to join my discord server located here: https://discord.gg/3pKkWAdc Foundry is accessed through your standard web browser by going to the following link: http://142.59.121.66:30000/ I recommend bookmarking that link. Also please note, if I don't have the Foundry server up and running on my computer the link will not work correctly. We will have a Foundry tutorial during Session 0 for anyone not familiar with the platform.

What Mike brings to the table

My goal as a GM is to create an experience for you, the players at my table. Pairing ambient music, custom battle maps & a vast array of monsters selected to fit the atmosphere & energy of each scene, I aim to make each and every session a memorable experience. I make attempts to create voices for NPCs but my vocal range only goes to about 5 or 6 characters. I do give each a distinct personality and their own motivations and goals to build their characters from. No Safe Roads will be played as a Structured Sandbox. Players will have the choice of where and what to tackle next but time and action will pass as they complete each choice. What may have been a small threat 3 or 4 sessions ago has grown to a significant threat as while you prioritized something else. I use Rules as Written as the backbone to my tables but the Rule of Cool has it's place as well. Don't expect every encounter to provide ideal conditions for every player to fight to their full potential. I build encounters and mini-arcs to allow the spotlight to shift from player to player organically throughout the campaign.

Homebrew rules

1. Healing Potions: If drank as an action, gives maximum healing. If drank as a bonus action, healing is rolled based on potion rarity. 2. Drinking a potion is a bonus action 3. Critical hits for both PCs & NPCs are max base damage + rolled crit dice. 4. Death-saving throws are rolled blind to the GM as just a d20 roll. Foundry still tracks your death saves on your character sheet even if you roll blind to the GM. 5. Failed Death-saves only reset to 1 until a Short Rest is taken 6. Primed for Combat: A nat20 on Initiative rolls give PCs & NPCs advantage on their first attack.

How Mike creates a safe table

There is a link below to a Line & Veils document prior to Session zero. During session zero I will cover what has been identified in the documents. I have a module in Foundry installed that allows for easy anonymous X-cards to be displayed if what is happening in game starts to approach something that is potentially triggering. We will take a bathroom/refreshment break halfway through the session but a break can be called for at any point of the content is triggering. The aim of the game is fun and while some of the content below can be expected in all games, it won't be glorified or gratuitous in nature. There won't be overly graphic descriptions of gore, injury, or any identified trigger. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ieqHoTJ_TFIZl4-hRPPVIIgFFkkQ_VJixpTV7kzJ_9Y/