Mystara: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos

Creating your character

Character creation will occur during session 0. We will roll stats first. 3d6 straight down. How you roll determine what player classes or races you qualify for to play. Then we will determine your social standing in Karameikos society, where your character is from, their ancestries, and any starting coin on your person. You will then buy your gear, equipment coin during play. You start with nothing but a dream and clothes on your back. I will provide you your characters motivation to set off adventuring in secret. You can then develop your back stories and tie your character to the setting. It will be up to you what to do with it, but some may want to keep certain things a closely guarded secret. Your not a hero yet.. You may be wanted. Most will be a common free man, as there are no serfs or bondmen (unless your unfortunate to be from the Black Eagle Barony, a wretched hive of scum and villainy inside an otherwise free nation. Most players will be a Human of Traladaran or Thyation descent or a New Karameikan. But if you really want to play a Phanaton, a Tortle, or come from somewhere other than Karameikos, as it is a rich setting, then see Mystara's Revised PHB for more info, then we can talk during session 0.

Preparing for the session

Once we begin play, we will begin on my Roll20 site. Links will be given during session 0. It is there we will roll stats. We will be using the Roll20 character sheets for play. So you will need to have the free version of Roll 20 at the minimum, and I highly recommend using a Chrome browser, as history shows it works best with their site. You must have a mic as we will be using Discord for Voice and I have private rooms to pull players aside for private chats that our necessary for play, such as when a character gets separated from the group, has a dream session, things they notice, they may want to keep private between them and the GM, etc. The link will be provided in chat on Roll 20. We will then be using discord for voice chat from there on out. It is the players responsibility to keep up with money, items acquired, including magical items and treasure and their encumbrance, armor class, hit points, etc. If you have a person down, and no one has the healing potion on their person that was acquired two session ago, it is lost and cannot be used, even if you and everyone else remembers it. If it is not there, you don't have it. It is your responsibility to keep up with your sheets. I will hold players accountable by periodic reviews of their characters sheets to make sure you are keeping up. A bug ate my character sheet is not an excuse for losing your character or their stuff. So please keep track. Survival is an element of this game. Don't get caught in your undies during a hail storm, with out food, water, or torches, etc. Again your responsible for playing your characters. I will not protect them from the harshness of the environments they find themselves in.

What Ron brings to the table

I will abide by the rules for continuity most of the time, the rule of cool is always in effect. If a player performs in roleplay exceptionally, I may not roll for a result. I reward good playing and out of the box, creative thinking. But then again everyone's play style is different, and stuff happens, that your character may not know. So don't be disappointed that your creative solution still requires a role, you may be instead rewarded with bonus xp when I think it's warranted. I reserve the right to wave rules at any time. If a rule is getting in the way of the fun, is too cumbersome and slows down play, it will be removed so the flow of the game continues. I do use ambient music on Roll20 to enhance the mood of the setting. It is usually on coming into the game, until I start speaking and then use my library of effects on occasion for effect. If you have a problem with this, please tell me privately, but music will not be blasting constantly, that I promise you. Certain classes have certain knowledge, such as Druids, Clerics, Paladins, and Rangers and Wizards, and even Warlocks that pertain to them. There are various factions a character may belong to so they will have access to information. This will be in their journals. You will want to read this information ahead of time. You will be accountable for this info, for play, and for providing information to other party members. You alone are responsible for the information your character should know. Most information is in the Mystara Players Guide, the rest and specifics are in your Players Journals on Roll20.

Homebrew rules

I have a couple House Rules but the main one concerns Rogues. A rogue may use their Sneak Attack Ability when using any weapon under of their Rogue Weapon Proficiencies, including a Longsword. I have pages of explanatory notes on the subject for those interested in dense academic reading on my decision as to why the PHB RAW is arbitrary, anal retentive and why it makes no sense. Drinking of a potion on your person is a bonus action. Tossing or giving someone a potion is a bonus action. Drawing of or Changing weapons on your person is a free action. Ammo spent in a battle may be recovered but 20% of any non magical arrows, bullets, etc will be lost due to damage or misfortune. Thus you fire 10 arrows in an encounter, you recover 8 at the end. (I will be checking for compliance, so keep up.) On a natural roll of one, bad stuff may happen in combat. Weapons or armor may break, you might shoot or accidently stab a friendly target, spells may fail horribly, or the wrong spell gets cast. The Immortals help you if you are a Warlock as your pact will take a piece of you in payment. It might be age, ability, or disability. Not really a House Rule but a Setting Rule issued by the Ducal government and Collected by the Ducal Revenue Service: Taxes are 25% of personal wealth accumulated (including the assessed value of any property, livestock, gems or magical items acquired during that quarter but only payable once per item except for liquid assets), every quarter on the 15th. There are 12 months of 28 days each. There are protections for Guild Members and chartered Adventuring bands with a Writ of Marquis on behalf of a royal or noble house. (Another reason to keep up your character sheets.) Failure to pay may cause imprisonment, or community service, additional fines, or all mentioned.

How Ron creates a safe table

You may at any time step away from the game by posting "BRB" for any reason, no questions asked. Stuff happens. Emergencies, the kids are fighting, your upset about your characters death, you really have to visit the bathroom, etc. It's ok. If you know please let me know in the chat how long you'll be if known. In emergencies you may need to exit the session. It's ok to leave. We can handle the aftermath later by email or chat privately. I will never ask why as that is your business, I am more concerned that your ok, and that you get your value back in the time you paid for. On occasion I will call a break for everyone, especially after a character or a beloved NPC dies tragically, but it doesn't mean anything bad happened per say on my end. It's just needed. During session 0, I will discuss the scope of the campaign and what subjects might come up, and how and when said issues may occur during a game, and when and if I expect them to occur. I will remind you before the session starts so that you may brace yourself if and when it occurs. Concerning sensitive matters, I keep things PG and do not go into explicit description of gore, sex, or violence. I find less is more generally such as, " the Corpse shows signs of recent decomposition.", and leave it at that. Or, "the two love birds get up from the table, hand in hand, flush with love, and retire for the night." Concerning player roleplay and romance between individuals player's characters; nothing could bore me more and yet I value a players agency to play their character's as they wish their character to be portrayed. Please keep things tasteful. Now to the members of my LGBTQ+ community. I don't use pronouns outside of the English language laws convention. You will always be treated with respect. As a game convention I will call every player; regardless of their orientation, by their name when addressing an individual player Out Of Character (OOC) and address individual characters in play by their character name when In Character (IC). It keeps things simple for me and you will know whether you or your character are being addressed, and no one gets their feelings hurt. If you have a problem with this, then I am not the DM for you. I will ask for feedback at the end of a session. "Did everyone enjoy themselves? Are you having fun? What did you enjoy? What didn't you enjoy? I will also ask during private in game discussions. You may always write me with feedback and concerns. Please keep concerns between us by discord or email. I keep an open door between my players and myself out of game. You may write me anytime. I will endeavor to respond with in 24 to 36 hours.