The Curse of Strahd – First session is free! Beginner friendly

Creating your character

Specific character creation details below - there will be a session zero to discuss everything in-depth, and I am available at any time to help with character ideas/brainstorming and any questions you might have. You are welcome to create your character in your own time before session zero if you wish, or we can do it together if you'd like any assistance. Content sharing is enabled in the Roll20 game so you will have access to my materials for character creation - anything that you would like to play which is not available in the character sheet creator can be added manually. Starting level - 1 Character sheets - Roll20 or DnD Beyond Content restrictions - All official Wizards of the Coast content is automatically approved. Homebrew content may be considered and approved if not found to be unbalanced. Starting stats - Rolled or point buy.

Preparing for the session

A microphone and an account on Discord and Roll20 are the only requirements! All sessions will include visual aids, handouts, maps and other immersive hooks to keep you invested in the action at all times.

What Mike brings to the table

Everything to fully-immerse yourself in the Forgotten Realms will be provided for you, including: Detailed maps with fully integrated lighting effects, puzzles and environmental hazards. Individual handout images for monsters, NPCs, significant places and miscellaneous points of interest. A tailored music selection with themes befitting the relevant encounter. A huge host of magical items, potions, scrolls and other goodies to be found throughout the game, each with images and full descriptions. A proud Englishman as your DM who has no qualms about making himself look foolish with NPC voices (I am no professional voice actor but I do try my best!). Tactical combat, utilising varying height levels, environmental effects, unique scenarios and a huge variety of monster types. Player ingenuity rewarding via the Rule of Cool - if you attempt something that is not exactly rules as written, but it makes sense and feels balanced to me then we'll run with it. Just be wary, whatever your character can do, so too can the enemy! A relaxed, feel-good D&D experience with a wonderful little community of fellow players to share your moments of glory (or catastrophe!) with.

Homebrew rules

Campaign house rules: Drinking a potion is a Bonus Action. Reviving a downed ally with a potion is an Action. Flanking an enemy (whenever one or more allies are within melee weapon reach in the opposite squares on the other side of an enemy) grants Advantage on melee attacks. When your character reaches 0 hitpoints you are Downed. Downed characters are immediately prone, cannot take any form of action except Dialogue and have their movement speed reduced to 5ft. If you fail 2 Death Saves whilst Downed you are Incapacitated. Each time you are Downed in combat, take 1 level of Exhaustion. Each level of Exhaustion you have imposes a -1 penalty to all D20 dice rolls. If you already have 5 levels of exhaustion, you will die immediately upon receiving another. Taking a Long Rest removes all levels of Exhaustion. You can jump in combat as a Bonus Action to gain additional movement, depending on your Strength modifier (each point of your Strength modifier gives an extra 3 feet of movement when jumping). This is rounded to the nearest 5, so a +3 STR mod gives you 10ft of jump. Critical hits inflict the maximum possible damage dice PLUS the rolled dice and modifiers. E.g if your attack normally does 1d6+3 damage, a critical hit will inflict 1d6+9 damage instead.

How Mike creates a safe table

During session zero I will lay out my basic expectations to everyone regarding player conduct. Please see below: Do not attack, harass and/or abuse any other player. If there is any out-of-character conflict I will address it with the relevant parties privately and do all I can to reach a satisfying conclusion with everyone involved. We are all here to have fun and roll dice. Do not share content that is racist, sexist, pornographic or otherwise offensive. If you are unsure about something, please privately message me beforehand so we can ensure no one experiences discrimination/bigotry. Do not share real-world political and/or religious content. There is a place for such things and typically a D&D game is not it. Do respect everyone regardless of their age, gender, race, sexuality or nationality. This is a firm rule and though I have never had to act on it thus far, I will take these things very seriously and if the offence is significant you may be asked to leave the group. I welcome all persons at my table and kindly ask that we all be as tolerant and respectful to each other as possible.