The Keep on the Cauldronlands: All the Tropes, Fully Intended

Creating your character

Character Creation: A Process Both Noble and Slightly Confusing Level: Start at Level 1, anything higher may raise questions at the Bureau of Administration. We're in Greyhawk near the Azure Sea. Stats: Use standard array or point buy — balance is encouraged, min-maxing is tolerated on creation but actively discouraged during advancement. We aim for immersion, not spreadsheets Creation Timing: Please make characters before the first session. One-shot players may “tweak” their characters before play begins Campaign players should come prepared with a backstory and a short start-of-session introduction. Come to session zero ready to play your character. After we look at everyone's characters together, we may adjust them. Tools: D&D Beyond’s character builder is most common. You can use digital, paper, parchment, or mystical rune. Just bring something legible. If you don't want to use D&D Beyond, you can send me your character sheet and keep it up to date in FoundryVTT. Allowed Sources: Rules will be D&D 5e 2024 (v5.5). Older materials or homebrew are welcome with approval — the GM reserves the right to issue polite confusion responding to individual player requests. Avoid anything that would cause a dimensional rupture in Session One unless you’re very funny about it Characters begin in or around The Keep: a fortress of opportunity, mild concern, and aggressively archived intentions. Whether you're a local hopeful or a bewildered outsider, your story starts here. The rest is paperwork.

Preparing for the session

Remote play: You need email, a good computer, a decent broadband connection, and a camera with a mic (we would like to see your face during role playing encounters). We use Google Meet on a smartphone for audio and video during play, so your computer can run FoundryVTT in your web browser. You'll join by link, and you don't need a Google account. I'll let you in at the start of each session. You should be familiar with FoundryVTT, or at least willing to learn how to roll dice, update your character sheet, and move your character on the map. I use Discord a lot when people need "out of game" assistance. You should be familiar with the Dungeons and Dragons Combat and Adventuring rules (the Players Handbook at a minimum). If you are a caster you will need to know how your spells work as your spell may fail if you can't describe it's mechanics quickly and meet it's requirements (e.g. you can't use somatic gestures if your grappled or otherwise unable to move).

What Larry brings to the table

What You Get (Besides Mild Peril) • Fully prepped virtual tabletop sessions — maps, monsters, and mayhem are ready to go • Custom visuals that match the tone: weird, evocative, and occasionally suspicious • Character tools and quick references to keep things moving (and reduce panic-rolling) • Flexible adventure structure — easy to jump in, bow out, or pick up the story mid-chaos, and we review everyone's characters together at session zero and adjust where needed • Deep setting lore for players who like to ask “wait, why is this like this?” — and actually get answers GM Style (modification of which voids something we can't discuss) I run games like a good heist: tight, character-focused, and always a little off the rails. Expect: • Moments of glory earned through panic • Lore that rewards curiosity (and punishes hubris) • Fast-paced, tactical combat with cinematic flavor • Rules as structure, not shackles • A world that reacts like it’s watching... because it is If you're here to explore, scheme, or scream in the wilderness with paperwork stapled to your fate — you're in the right place.

Homebrew rules

Critical hits: the first set of damage dice counts at its maximum value, so you only roll the extra "doubling" dice. Facing: we use the DMG's optional facing rule to keep Disengage from being overpowered in big boss fights. Long rests: resting in a dungeon is dangerous. If you don't take precautions, you will very likely be attacked while you sleep, and few rooms on my maps are safe for a long rest. Talk me into your precautions: they lower the chance a wandering monster appears, but never eliminate it. Death saves: when you succeed, tell the table a happy memory that flashes before your eyes. When you fail, tell an unhappy one. If you die, you are dead, though you may be able to be resurrected. Have a backup character handy. Movement: diagonals alternate between 5 and 10 feet (the DMG's optional diagonals rule). Encumbrance: I don't track it unless players start carrying a ridiculous amount of gear. Spell components: I don't track material components at lower levels, and this adventure is for Tier 1 characters. Inspiration: everyone starts each session with Inspiration, after an opening "inspiration" question, and I hand out more during play whenever I am VERY amused by your role playing (without explanation). Wave-off clause: I reserve the right to wave off just about any rule if it's going to bog down the session. If we're looking up rules a ton.. i'll home rule a bit more than i've said.

How Larry creates a safe table

I try to run a lighthearted game, but combat is usually pretty intense, so we always want to keep everyone safe and in a space where they are relaxed and having fun. We use Lines and Veils with an X-Card pause and discuss mechanic. Lines are hard boundaries the story will not cross. Veils are things that may exist in the world but happen off-screen or are handled with discretion. Lines: gratuitous violence (combat is part of D&D, but no excessive gore or detailed descriptions of suffering), explicit sexual content or non-consensual situations, harm to children or animals, and real-world prejudices such as racism, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia. Veils: romantic relationships (handled tastefully, fading to black for intimate moments), torture or extreme suffering (implied, not described), and the death of major NPCs (the emotional impact matters, not graphic detail). X-Card: say "X," tap the table, or send a message in chat to stop or shift the scene right away, no questions asked. Pause and check-in: ask for a brief pause to clarify or adjust a situation. We'll talk through these boundaries at session zero and as needed at any time during game play, and we can modify it as a table (with unanimous enthusiastic consent, which includes mine). Regardless of any safety rules, the most important safety rule is: You always decide what your character would or wouldn't do, no matter what the games rules or game play might seem to suggest. Source document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19QDs_uczFx10luuQ-V_pm7bXU6uDjlSU/view?usp=share_link