Enūma Eliš

Creating your character

During Session Zero, as well agreeing on our assumptions for the game, everyone will take part in a collaborative character creation process, starting with choosing from the six available playbooks. Each playbook provides suggestions for names, looks and other details about the character, but also asks questions about their past and their potential future. As well as the special abilities granted by each playbook, characters are defined by their Epithets, bold statements about their beliefs, strengths and reputation. When a situation aligns with one of these Epithets, you use it to determine the amount added to your rolls for that situation, but beware: the more tightly you hold onto your beliefs, the more likely it is they will burn you. Sometimes your passions can get out of your control and create consequences for you that complicate your life: the greater your power, the greater the risk.

Preparing for the session

You will need a Discord account in order to play; when you join the game, you will be sent an invitation to a small private Discord server on which the game will be played.

What James Mullen brings to the table

This is a story-driven game where the player characters are always the protagonists of the story, or sometimes the antagonists. Once we've created the setting details, it will be down to the players to decide which antagonists are drawing up plans that will affect the PCs and how they get involved. Character backstories play a significant part in the game, reaching out to the PCs to drag them back into trouble once more. The PCs are expected to act heroically, in a classical sense, which can sometimes mean being conflicted over making the right choice. Passion always rules them though and sometimes they need to overturn the way things have always been in order to live their own lives authentically. As MC, I'll be remixing the elements I'm handed by the players, using NPCs, locations, backstories and more to keep the PCs in the spotlight. I'll support players in implementing the rules, but sometimes the narrative goes places where the rules could never have expected them to. In those circumstances, we'll talk about what the intentions & desires of the PCs and what makes the best story for them, then apply whatever exceptional ruling is required on the spot.

How James Mullen creates a safe table

The following safety tools will be in effect throughout the campaign: Session Zero: before the campaign begins, we'll discuss expectations, limits and preferred content together, as part of the entire world building and character creation process, which is done collaboratively. Open Table: players are free to come and go as they need to and should not feel they are interrupting the game if they need to take a break or leave for any reason. No Hate Speech: no matter what regressive opinions characters in the game may have, we will exclude any use of the terms hate speech, including an examples of sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, body shaming and so on. Lines & Veils: we will have a discussion about the tone and content all players find acceptable for the game, including trigger issues, phobias and so on. Pause Button: everyone is empowered to pause the game at any time, with an explanation if they desire; this can be used to take a moment, skip unwanted content, rewind & redo a portrayal of their character they are unhappy with, discuss upcomingh scenes and their ton, etc, Decompression: after every game, time will be available to discuss the game's content with each other, dig a little deeper below the surface of character motivations and generally ground ourselves.