The Plight of Perrin - A RockNRole Homebrew

Creating your character

In the interest of being welcoming, our character creation timeline will depend on how experienced the players are! If there's anyone who feels like they might need some help, I'm happy to roll this part into the beginning of our Session Zero orientation. We'll be using 5e's Standard Array for stats, creating our adventurers at level 3. D&D beyond character sheets are welcome, but I have the most content unlocked to share with you on Roll20 itself and will require all characters to have a Roll20 sheet for easy reference. I'm not picky about which sourcebooks you use, so long as they're WotC-Official and specifically a part of the 2014 system.

Preparing for the session

You'll need accounts on Roll20 and Discord (optionally D&D Beyond if that's your preferred sheet builder, in which case you'll also need to download the Beyond20 browser extension to make it cooperate with Roll20). Invites to both the Roll20 game and Discord server will be sent as part of your welcome message; please join them upon receiving the invites!

What Eric (RockNRole) brings to the table

I'm a pro GM of nearly ten years now, so I've got tons of fun voices, vibrant maps, and other visual aids. Because I find so many people would rather set their own soundtrack via Spotify or whatever, I don't typically use ambient music anymore. Combat is challenging, but not so brutal as to demand a certain kind of character design from players. I tend to run things pretty much Rules as Written, though I typically try to decide ambiguities in the players' favor. We're here to have fun, after all!

Homebrew rules

A couple of little quality of life things: I don't track rations or mundane ammo unless the situation calls for it. Assume there's no need to track these things unless / until I explicitly say otherwise. I also run encumbrance as a pass/fail mechanic, Skyrim style. You can use every bit of carrying capacity you have without penalty, but if you go over the top, you'll need to drop something to continue moving effectively. This is just to keep things flowing without turning too many sessions into inventory management time.

How Eric (RockNRole) creates a safe table

Session Zero has yet to happen, but to summarize the safety tools discussed during all my Session Zeroes: All participants in a game are free at any time to inform the GM of any topics they'd rather avoid, or for which they prefer we fade to black. Obviously, it's ideal to inform the group ahead of time to the degree possible, but the reality of an unscripted game where anything can happen necessitates folks be able to object mid-session as well. A quick "timeout" or "excuse me," followed by any relevant updates about the subject matter, will see any concerns taken care of. I also keep a proactive lookout for these things, and if I sense tensions running high, I'll call a timeout and check in with the players.